


Pop the Heat Sink

by DragonDreads (cjbage)



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Non-Canon Relationship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Past Abuse, Slow Build, Work In Progress, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-13 13:23:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 62,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4523679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjbage/pseuds/DragonDreads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah was lonely.  Trapped in a loveless,  abusive relationship. One day she finally had enough and broke free and ran. Now on her own on the Citadel she thought she had no one to turn to when threats started arriving from her ex.  She was given a choice to run again or finally learn to protect herself. </p><p>Julian was at the simulation range for target practice and saw the human female several lanes over struggling to learn to use the weapon the human instructor was pushing off on her. He also noticed the way she constantly flinched when the male pressed in too close, so he took it upon himself to step in and help her.</p><p> </p><p>This story takes place in an alternate universe setting, no Reapers. The characters we knew as the crew of the Normandy are just ordinary people in this story. Hope someone likes it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Standard Disclaimer:** Bioware owns all of the Mass Effect Universe, including but not limited to the recognizable characters. Any original characters are my own. There is no monetary gain from this work. All I am doing is playing around with their universe.  
>  **~**  
> Please do not use my original characters in a different story unless permission is asked for and received.  
> Do not post this story in a different archive, forum, or mailing list. I post only on Archive of Our Own. If you like it please post a link to this page instead. Thank you.  
> **~**  
> **~**
> 
> This is a work in progress, so fair warning. Chapter updates will be very sporadic on this one. I will write chapters on this as I can find time.
> 
> Reminder for my regular readers and a note to my new ones. I do not use a beta or proofreader so you will probably find grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors galore in my works. I am trying to improve this. But when it is 3am and I finally get inspiration I am more concerned with actually getting it written out before I either fall back to sleep or completely forget what it was that woke me up to begin with. So please excuse them. If you would like to leave a kind and helpful comment on the error you found and how to correct it by all means do so. 
> 
> A big thank you goes out to everyone supporting my stories. As promised when I completed my last Human/Turian story, here is a completely Original character romance between 2 Original characters.

* * *

 

When Sarah picked herself up from the bedroom floor, where she had been left laying after the latest bout of physical abuse from her husband, she swore she had enough. Reaching behind the framed wedding holo on the wall she removed the tiny contact chit from where she had taped it.  She was in agony as she limped her way to the terminal in the kitchen. After sliding the chit into the slot, like she was instructed, she watched as a series of numbers and long strings of code sped by on the screen. It went blank then a small flashing cursor appeared.  
  
_Hello, Sarah. I wasn't sure you were going to find the strength to finally contact me. Are you ready? If you are just say "yes", I will take care of the rest. Preparations were already in place for you. Remember,  you can not take anything with you. Your basic needs will be met._  
  
"Yes,  I am ready. I do have one request. I own a small locket,  it was my mother's and her mother's before her. Please,  that is all I want to take."  
  
The cursor flashed for several minutes. _Acceptable,  as long as you agree to let the representative run it through security measures. We will not allow any items that could pose a risk to you, others like you or our operation,  because of a small piece of sentimentality. It is why we normally do not allow anything to be taken._  
  
"I understand and thank you." Sarah was leaning against the counter top, trying not to move for fear that her ribs were broken. "I will need medical attention. I think... I think he broke my ribs."  
  
_Understood, the representative will assist you in that matter. You are to go to the basement of your building. The security door will be unlocked and the cameras will be disabled. You are to be there within 10 minutes. You will be met with an individual wearing white and red,  do not be alarmed at his outer appearance. The countdown starts as soon as you say the word, "yes"._  
  
Sarah straightened as best she could,  calculated the time it would take her to move to the bedroom, get the locket and back before she said yes. "One moment." She went as quickly as she could to her room,  opened the top drawer, moved aside her plain white cotton underwear and drew out the small box in the back. She removed the locket and put it on as she hurried back to the terminal. With as steady of a voice as she could manage she said clearly, "yes." Then walked out the door heading straight for the elevator.  
  
She didn't see the screen start the string of code and the flickering of the lights through the small apartment as the terminal deleted every small scrap of data,  copied every out going or incoming call or message that came from that terminal. Nor did she have any idea that a very subtle line of code had been inserted. That tiny app would alert them to future calls when Sarah's name was mentioned. Along with all the other names that she had previously given to them when she had first contacted the group.  Those names that the bastard of a husband liked to call her at various times during the long years of abuse she had suffered.

 

* * *

  
  
When Sarah stepped off the elevator,  she moved to the doorway marked _Maintenance Staff Only_ ,  she knew the stairs there would lead down to the basement. She opened the door and leaned back against it for a moment to try and catch her breath. She descended the last flight of stairs to the darkened area below.  
  
She had just made it to the center of the room when she heard rapid clicking and screeching,  she almost screamed when a large mech stepped out from the shadows,  his flashlight head moving. The flaps opening and closing rapidly. "Moss - Sarah. I was sent to take you to safety. You may call me Legion."  
  
Sarah stepped back away from the mech then remembered what she was told,  wearing white and red, don't be alarmed by outward appearance. The mech was indeed white with a thick red stripe running down his right arm. He also had some red lettering on the right side of his chest that was barely visible.  
  
"Al-Alright, I'm ready to go now." She mumbled out and took a few cautionary steps toward the mech. "Very good, Moss - Sarah. I was instructed that you would need medical attention and to scan an object for anything that could be used to track you." He held out a three fingered hand, "please hand me the object for verification purposes." She carefully removed the necklace and placed it in the hand then waited. The mech ran an omni tool over the object, then let out more of those strange sounds before also running the tool over her from feet to head.  
  
"Thank you, Moss - Sarah, follow me please. Will attend your immediate medical needs while enroute." He gently handed back her locket and helped her to the small doorway in the very back of the room. She wouldn't have known it was even there if it hadn't been leading the way.  
  
Outside a small skycar was parked in the alleyway, there was a rather large human male in the front and he gave her pause. "No need to worry, Moss - Sarah,  the organic in the front is also a representative." She saw the gorilla of a male wearing a white short sleeve shirt with a red stripe along the right side as well and calmed down enough to ease into the backseat,  the mech followed her and the human in the front passed back a red bag before lifting off in the skycar.  
  
As the mech attended to her ribs the male in front glanced back. "I'm Vega, ma'am. James Vega. I will be your guard until we get you fully set up and sure you are settled into your new home." He heard her let out a hiss of pain and looked back again. Legion was using a bone knitter on her to repair some of the cracks.  
  
"I am sorry for causing you pain, Moss - Sarah, but this must be repaired quickly. There is a 95.85745 percent chance that a bone fragment could damage you further."  
  
She looked at the mech,  once again catching it referring to itself as, "I".  
  
"It's fine. Thank you. I am feeling better already. You were much more gentle than the doctors at the clinics I go to." She gave a tentative smile at the machine and heard the human in the front let out a laugh, "yeah, that's our Legion,  he loves the ladies. Treats them with a gentle touch, the men on the other hand gets told to suck it up when we get hurt. He spends too much time around the boss,  that's what he always tells us too."  
  
They arrived at what looked like an office building and parked the skycar in the roof garage. Vega hurried around and helped her from the back of the skycar, instead of heading to the door into the building they headed to a parked shuttle. It looked exactly like one of the shuttles used by the _Superior Cleaning and Household Sanitation_ business in town . "Hop in, we're heading to see the boss. They will go over the rules that you will need to follow to make sure you're safe and can't be found."

 

* * *

  
  
When they arrived they proceeded down several floors, the building looked like any other office building in the bustling city center. They entered a door marked, _The Consortium_.  She looked around at the muted colors of the room. Beige,  creams and tans with a splash of blue or green here and there. The holos on the wall were the basic landscapes that you could buy off of the extranet. Vega went ahead and knocked on one of the inner doors and poked his head inside, she guessed it was to let whoever was inside know that they had arrived. "Ok,  come on in." Vega turned to make sure they heard him then walked in to wait.  
  
She was surprised that the room was empty. Not just of people,  but there was no furniture. She was starting to get nervous,  maybe this was a mistake ... but they came recommended by several of the doctors she had seen over the years. Legion led her to the center of the room and stood next to her on the right,  Vega moved up to stand next to her on the left.  
  
The clicking noises came from Legion and a light scanning grid came up around them. She started moving around more, "Moss - Sarah,  please do not move. The scanner will not harm you in anyway. To get a correct upload you must remain still." She swallowed and did her best to remain motionless,  her body stiff with a combination of fright,  anxiety and hope.  
  
"Ahh, Sarah,  glad to see you have made it. Legion and Vega took good care of you I hope?" A human male appeared as a holograph in front of them,  his face lined and small scars here and there added to it's character. His hair cut short, was a dark brown color. It was his eyes that held her, a light blue that seemed to see inside her, knowing her every secret.  
  
"I-yes,  yes they did. Legion fixed some of my injuries on the way here. Thank you,  sir." She swallowed nervously and watched as he smiled and waved one of his hands in a dismissive gesture. "No need to be so formal,  just call me Shepard. Legion is going to hand you a data pad to look over, read it very, very carefully. It contains our rules, also contains safe house locations and numbers if you should need us. Once you read it,  if you have any questions,  the two of them can supply answers.  First off,  you will be taken to a safe house on Illium where you will be able to rest and heal. You need to also utilize that time to get used to your new identity and study up on your new job requirements. All records of your previous life have been deleted. Sarah Moss never existed. No photographs remain,  no documents legal or otherwise remain. No voice recordings, birth or school records, nothing at all. That includes the marriage license. The data has been wiped clean,  you are effectively single again. He has no hold over you, rights to you or anything you have or will have."  
  
She gasped at this, she had tried to go to one of those free lawyers to see if there was anyway out of the marriage. If she obtained a divorce from him she would be legally bound to give him half of everything she earned for 10 years past the day of the divorce. She had been warned by several people not to sign that agreement,  not to fall for his tricks and lies of it being just a formality. That he loved her and would do nothing to cause her to want a divorce. She had been an idiot. "What about that agreement I signed?"  
  
"What, that illegal piece of paper that wasn't even worthy of wiping my ass with?" He smiled at her, "it's gone. If he should find you,  try to bring any type of action against you in court, he will find out how fast they can move when it comes to illegal contracts. And by the way,  those freebie lawyers from that website you found them on, are a joke. Most of them haven't even been accepted to go to school to become lawyers let alone have any real experience. The rest are ones that used to be referred to as ambulance chasers."  
  
She blinked at him and swayed a little, she was free. Completely free of him. She could have a real life now,  something she never thought she would be able to have. Vega handed her a handkerchief when he saw her start to cry. Since he started working there he learned to carry those and a tiny emergency medical kit with him all the time.  
  
They spoke a few minutes more then the holograph wished her well and disappeared. "Okay, now for the next step, ma'am. Legion here has that data pad for you. And here is your new ID's. You will need to memorize them, every small detail over the next month that we will be on Illium. Your travel documents are in this pack,  along with a small credit chit, the information for your apartment on the Citadel where you will eventually go and the information for the job. It's not much, but since you had no college training or really any work history,  we had to do make due. You can take extranet courses in the evening, that way you can get a better job."  
  
They hustled her out of the office and up to the roof again. This time boarding a different shuttle. "We'll be in Illium in about 4 days. After you rest you should look over that stuff,  let us know if you have any questions."

 

* * *

  
She let out a small breath as she settled onto a bench in the back of the small shuttle that had been converted into something that resembled a bed. She was exhausted but her mind wouldn't shut down with everything going on.  The adrenalin, the worry and the thought of being free for the first time in over 5 years. How was she going to cope on her own after they took her to her final destination?  
  
In the four days they were traveling, Sarah Moss had died and been reborn as Sara Maloy.  When Vega told her they were approaching Illium she almost cried in relief. Four days with no shower and the only change of clothes she had was a jumpsuit that was way to big. It had taken her almost an entire day to break down and tell them she had to use the bathroom, Vega blushed scarlet and showed her to the tiny section of the shuttle that held a bio toilet. She had wondered why he had gone behind the screen but didn't really pay attention to it. He showed her the device to use for privacy and then quickly scrambled back to the front of the shuttle.  
  
They were met by an asari who introduced herself as Liara,  she would be staying with her this next month. They would get her situated with clothing and everything else before taking her to the Citadel. Legion told her farewell,  he had another pickup to handle and wished her well.  
  
By the end of the month,  she had a decent sized,  but not overly large,  wardrobe of varying styles. Gone over the information for her new job, a store clerk. Simple and easy work at a specialty bookstore and was shown a holo of her small apartment. She could stay there as long as she needed, but once she was able to acquire better employment she was free to move.  
  
Liara went with her to the Citadel, got her settled into the apartment and gave her a map of the Citadel.

Liara had been appalled at first that Sara hadn't had an omni tool,  even a cheap, out of date one. So she bought a basic model for her as a gift. Sara had at first refused but caved in when she saw just how much was only available to those with an omni tool,  she couldn't even check the public transit schedules without one. The next morning she would be shown where the store was and introduced to the owner. Liara would be leaving the following morning to return to Illium and Sara would be completely on her own.

 

* * *

  
  
Sara was expecting a small bookshop that would be nothing more than a bank of terminals that would allow a user to scan for a book then purchase a copy to be downloaded onto a datapad or straight to their omni tools. What she walked into was something completely different. They did indeed have the electronic books,  but in the vast majority of the store were thousands of actual books. On paper. They were inside a sealed glass enclosure so not just anyone could walk inside.  
  
"Ah,  Liara, it is good to see you once again. How have you been? This must be my new employee, Sara Maloy. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." A voice called out from somewhere to the right and above them,  that voice was followed by a green scaled male lightly jogging down the stairs before noiselessly moving across the floor to greet them. His eyes were huge and looked like liquid onyx, the scale colors were different shades of green, with dark green accents. Sara could only blink. She had no idea what species she was looking at and didn't want to make a faux pas while meeting her new employer.  
  
"Thane,  lovely to see you looking so well. This is indeed her. Sara please meet Thane Krios,  he is the proprietor of the Bound Enlightenment Emporium. Thane, Sara is all settled and can start work soon. She also has all the information she needs in case of emergencies."  
  
"I see. Very nice to meet you, Ms Maloy. I take it by the way you are staring at me that you have never met a drell? Do not worry most people have not,  we are a rare species, not very often seen outside of the homeworld of Kahje. I take no offense,  I am sure as we become acquainted with each other my appearance will not be quite so remarkable... although I have been told I am quite handsome." He laughed lightly as Sara turned various shades of red.  
  
"Thane, you are getting as bad as Garrus. I think you both like watching the poor human females turn colors." Liara chided him even though she was grinning at him none the less.  
  
"Feel free to look around the front of the store. Shall I expect you tomorrow morning?" At her nod,  he transferred the time schedule to her omni tool. "Very good,  we can go over your duties then. Have a wonderful day." He gave a slight bow then went to help a customer who needed a data pad for his download.

 

* * *

  
  
Sara couldn't believe how fast time had flown once she got used to everything. After she stopped worrying her husband... no,  the man with whom she had lived with,  that wasn't quite right either. The one with whom gave her a small space to sleep in and provided a small amount of food in exchange for cleaning,  cooking,  sexual favors and being used as a punching bag for 5 very long years, there that had sounded right,  wouldn't suddenly appear.  
  
Now it was one year later,  her courses on the extranet were almost one third of the way completed. She found she loved her job, her employer was witty and very kind.  Unless you tried to steal something from his store,  then he moved in the blink of an eye and had the thief pinned to the wall or tied up on the floor waiting for C-Sec. She was astounded that he had read each and every one of the books that was in the store,  philosophy and religion seemed to be his favorites. The store was doing well,  so many collectors of rare books would stop by constantly. Her pay more than covered her needs and she was building a small savings account that made her feel more secure.  
  
She was healthy,  happy and starting to really enjoy her life. Then the first email came to her extranet account.  
  
_So Sara ... or should I say Sarah,  you thought you could get away? You thought you were free? No one leaves me. I own you. Everything you have is mine. You owe me,  I will come soon to collect._  
  
She deleted the email. She was shaking hard and felt like she was going to vomit. When she went to work that morning she kept jumping each time the door would swish open. Thane asked her if she was alright,  she stuttered out some excuse which she knew he didn't buy from the way he kept looking at her and then at the door. "Hmm,  I see. Well, don't be afraid to ask me for anything. You are not alone here,  you have friends that will come to your aid."  
  
No new messages arrived over the next several days and she began to relax thinking someone was messing with her. It was a bad joke if that was what it had been.  
  
When she checked her mail that morning before work there was another message waiting. Her eyes quickly scanned over it and her hand flew to her mouth.  
  
_You filthy whore, smiling and laughing with that disgusting alien. I saw the holos of you two. Letting him put those hands on you. Letting him hold your hand and kissing it. You fucking him too? Is that what goes on in the stock room when you both disappear inside? I will soon teach you the folly of letting a thing like that even look at you.  He will pay for touching what is mine. And you will pay for letting him._  
  
She was crying at this point, somehow he found her. She followed all the rules, was careful. But somehow he found her.  What was she going to do?  He had threatened Thane, she would have to warn him. Then she would probably have to leave. She hurried through her morning rituals to get ready then rushed out the door, carefully locking it behind her. When she arrived at work that morning she took Thane into the glassed in room and told him what happened. That she would need to leave.  
  
"Only if you want to Sara. He is not here, according to the mail, he only has seen holos.  Which means he is not on the station or too afraid to come to the store himself. Do not worry about me,  I have not always been a book seller. If you wish to remain on the Citadel and in my employ then we shall take steps to help protect you. First of all, do not use the extranet terminal in your home until we have Legion check it." He opened his omni tool and sent an emergency notice to The Consortium. "I would be most happy to teach you self defense skills,  also a friend of mine owns a weapons and training store here on the Citadel. He offers courses that are tailored specifically for females. If you would like I can get in touch with him and see about setting you up with private lessons as well as the courses. In any case learning to use a weapon may be a good idea,  the Citadel is not always the safest of places."  
  
She hugged her arms about herself and thought it out. She really loved her job,  even her small apartment. But could she learn to defend herself well enough? The thought of holding a gun in her hands made her nervous. She closed her eyes, the bastard was doing it again. Controlling her, forcing her to do what he wanted. She had told herself never again,  had left that behind her. Shepard had told her that her ex had nothing on her,  no paperwork and that document had been illegal. Did she want to leave? Be forced to start all over in another place? No. She was happy here. She wanted to stay.  
  
"I want to stay. I like my apartment,  I like my job. And I like having you for my boss." She smiled up at him. "Good,  glad to hear that. I would hate to have to train another new employee when it has taken me a year to teach you where everything is in here." He grinned at her and chuckled with her when she relaxed at his words. "Now, while you go tend to your duties out front I will contact my friend and speak with Shepard to see how he wants to proceed with this."

 

* * *

  
  
Legion showed up later that night and proceeded to scan her entire apartment then did something to her terminal. He told her when she had opened that first mail it had installed a virus into her terminal,  it would track her and copy everything,  sending it back to the sender. He attached his own program and had her send a short message to Thane thanking him for earlier. The app registered as being sent on his omni tool, now it would take a bit of time to trace it. Once he was sure it had reached it's final destination he executed a code on her terminal that deleted the virus and any hooks it may have left in her system. Once he was sure it was cleaned completely he installed an antivirus application of his own making,  ensuring her that nothing could get past it.  
  
When Sara went to bed that night she barely slept,  each little noise would wake her up,  her heart thumping in her chest. The next morning,  after she arrived to work, Thane took her into the back room,  away from any prying eyes in front of the store,  and went over the information he received from his friend. Her private classes would take place twice a week in the evenings. Her self defense class would take place once a week on her day off,  if she needed more then she was only to ask him. The firearm use and safety course took place every other weekend. All she needed to do was to call Mr. Tiron at Rodam Expeditions in advance and let him know. Her private classes would be started after she attended that mandatory course.

 

* * *

  
  
Her first self defense class with Thane was the following day,  that night she slept even less than the previous nights. When she showed up with huge rings under her eyes and drooping eyelids,  Thane sighed and led her to the couch in his apartment above the store. "Sleep, Sara. You are safe here."  
  
Sara jerked awake, she remember laying on the couch,  a throw pillow beneath her then nothing. She sat upright a light throw falling from her shoulders. "Ahh,  you are awake. Feeling better rested now?" She nodded then noticed the lamp was lit on the table next to the chair he was sitting on, a book open on his lap.  
  
"How long was I asleep for, Thane?" He glanced at a small clock on the wall, "approximately 12 hours, Sara. Your body and mind were completely exhausted when you arrived here." He saw her start to panic, "oh no,  oh no. What if he is out there watching? He thinks we are having an affair,  me being up here for 12 hours. Oh my God, what have I done?"  
  
Thane laid his book on the small table and joined her on the couch, "easy, Sara. The Consortium has guards outside the building. They will be shadowing you for a while,  making sure that you are safe should the male actually show up on the Citadel. They also are actively looking for the person or persons that is passing on intel to him." He stood up from the couch and held out a cool,  green scaled hand to her. "Come,  I have had dinner brought up a while ago,  it is in the warmer now. We can do the self defense training after you are more rested. In the meantime I do have a gift for you, I shall show it to you after dinner."

 

* * *

  
  
When they were done eating Thane asked for her omni tool. He proceeded to install an app on it along with swapping out a small chip in the side with a different one, this one was white with red markings,  it must have come from the Consortium. "This is to be used in an emergency as the program will also alert nearby Consortium employees or ones like me who are outside help. Should you be attacked and feel your life is in danger activate the app that I just installed. It can be voice activated or touched. It will also monitor your vital signs looking for specific fluctuations. It will send a report and will also notify us." He also explained that when fully activated it will emit a short voltage blast,  enough to knock out an average sized human male.  
  
She watched as he showed her how to activate it,  it was in testing mode so it wouldn't shock either of them,  then he handed it back to her. "It is growing late,  you are more then welcome to avail yourself of my couch for the night or I would be more than happy to escort you to your home."  
  
"I think I have done enough damage,  put you into enough danger as it is. I can make my own way home. Thank you for everything, Thane. You have been the best friend I have ever had. Best boss too,  although technically you have been my only boss,  so I really don't have anything to compare you to." She grinned at him and gave a light laugh.  
  
He gave her a warm smile in return, "I have enjoyed your company immensely and sales have been better than ever since you have been here. So as an employee you have been excellent. As a friend, I couldn't have asked for better. Just remember, Sara,  you are no longer alone and you have those that will help you,  should you require it."  
  
He insisted on accompanying her the entire way home.  He felt someone following them, saw a brief shimmer of an invisibility cloak out of the corner of his eye, and relaxed slightly. She was in good hands. Kasumi would allow nothing to get to Sara.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

 

 

Sara walked into Rodom Expeditions the following Saturday. It was the first day of the safety course and she was nervous. She never held a weapon in her hand,  never fired a gun before, she had no clue about what to do or what to expect.  There were several other females in the waiting area  all of them looking nervous as she felt. One had her husband or boyfriend with her who was giving her advice and telling her to be calm. Finally about 10 minutes before the class was to begin Etarn Tiron came out and handed each of the females a datapad then asked the over protective male to leave. The class was for the ladies only.  
  
Each of the women filled out the data pad. For some it seemed to take a while but for others like her that had no experience at all with a weapon most of it was left blank or the word none was inserted into the box.  
  
The first half of the class was safety and classroom instruction. Learning proper handling. Then came lunch,  the women all huddled together discussing why they were there and what they felt about the class so far. Then the second half was a demonstration and one on one time at the range with an instructor.  
  
The first time one of the weapons discharged most of the group jumped and let out a squeak of alarm. After the first hour they weren't quite so bothered by it anymore. When it was Sara's turn she tried to remember everything that she had been told. The instructor was patient,  going over everything from stance to squeezing the trigger and not jerking it. Having a better grip on the pistol butt and keeping her wrist straight would improve her aim he told her,  so she took a breath held it and pulled the trigger. She missed. Completely.  
  
"Well, darn." Sara was looking at the unmarked target 10 feet from her. Her instructor's lips twitched and he told her to try again, this time to keep her eyes open. She let out a small laugh and blushed. Starting the process again. This time she at least hit the target, didn't hit inside the shadow form but she did at least hit something. He let her try several more times,  each time she got a bit better,  the target finally registered a hit. It was in the arm but she gave a big grin. She had done it. "Well,  done. You just need more practice. Tomorrow is a longer session here at the range, after a refresher on safety. Then you will be shown how to break down and clean the weapon. Maintaining the gun is always important, keeping it clean and in good functioning order will help minimize issues should you ever have need to use one."

 

* * *

  
The following week was extremely busy. The store had just received a shipment of new books from a collector who willed them to Thane. He was ecstatic over his good fortune,  although he was sad to have lost one of his closest friends and suppliers. He locked himself in the sealed glass room and started to catalogue his new additions, setting aside those he wished to read and sliding the rest upon a shelf.  
  
Sara watched from where she was sitting gingerly on a stool by the register. She grinned and could have sworn if Thane hadn't been so stoic he would have been dancing around hugging the books to his chest. She let out a sigh and moved cautiously on the stool. Last night had been the first night of his self defence training. She had always thought she was in good shape, but he showed her otherwise. The stretches and basic movements he had her doing showed her how inflexible she really was. He told her she would improve and to practice for an hour or two every night. On top of her college courses for business she was taking she had been having a serious lack of sleep lately.  
  
After she helped the last of the customers she got up and walked to the window. Outside she noticed a human male was standing staring at the front of the store. She sucked in a breath,  he seemed so familiar to her, she couldn't remember having met him before but he gave her that feeling. The one that she got when her ex was in a bad mood as was just waiting for any excuse to go off.  
  
She backed away from the window and walked toward the glass room, tapping on the window to get Thane's attention. When he glanced up he hurriedly slid the book on the shelf and left the room. His gaze never leaving her frightened one. "What is it, Sara?"  
  
"There was a guy hanging around outside the shop. Just standing there staring. I could have sworn I had seen him somewhere before but I just can't remember. He gave me the creeps." Thane frowned and sent a message to the Consortium then walked to the window. Glancing out he didn't see anyone but locked the door and flicked the switch turning the sign from Open to Closed. "Come with me to the security office, we shall go over the vids. Point him out to me so I can get a record of him to send to Shepard."  
  
Once she had done what he asked,  he forwarded the clip and walked back to the window. He could not see anything or anyone that looked out of place so he reopened the store, remaining in the outer room with Sara. Cataloging those books would just have to wait.  


* * *

  
  
Sara arrived early to her first private firearms lesson. She milled around the store looking at the displays and eavesdropping on the conversations of other customers until Mr Tiron approached her. "Ah, Ms. Maloy, welcome back. If you would be so kind as to follow me to the back area I will introduce you to the instructor. Ear and eye protection are provided as part of the course."  
  
She put her hair in a ponytail,  picked up the safety glasses and ear plugs then followed him through the door marked, "Firing Range, authorized personnel only. Eye and Ear protection required."  
  
Inside there were several other people using the range. A few humans and an asari was down at the one end, while several turians were at the opposite end."Ms. Maloy,  this is your instructor, Anthony Walton. He has only been with us a short time but has come recommended by others." She nodded at the man, taking in his appearance at a glance. Just a bit under six foot, she thought, light brown hair and eyes. His body was muscular. He had a strong square jaw and what she supposed were fuller lips then normal for a male. "Nice to meet you." She held out her hand for a quick hand shake, she tried to pull her hand back but the male hung onto it longer then she liked.  
  
"Well, Ms. Maloy, if you would step into this lane here, I have an array of pistols laid out. Are you here to learn to shoot for a specific reason? Or just for the pleasure of it?" A creepy little chill ran down her spine as he said the word pleasure. She wasn't too comfortable at the moment, but she couldn't be sure it was not just because of him being a human male. The only contact she had with others was at the store and her usual go to places. It had taken her a while to get comfortable around the workers at those places as well. She had taken to Thane fairly quickly, he just had a way about him that put her at ease. Not so with many of the other people she had encountered.  
  
"I'm here for a reason. I only took the safety course a week ago, so haven't done this outside of the few hours there."  
  
"Not a problem." He picked up a Predator and went over the safe handling of the gun again. He handed her weapon and she tried to remember how to position herself then flinched when he touched her to correct her stance. She grit her teeth and pulled the trigger. After several shots he had her put that gun down then he showed her the target. Out of 5 shots she hit the target 3 times,  only once inside the shadowed area.  
  
"Let's try this one next. Don't worry about not hitting the target all the time. Once you find a gun that you like we can go from there. Right now,  just get used to not closing your eyes or flinching when you pull the trigger."  
  
On and on it went for the next 2 hours. He made notes on a data pad then told her he would see her in three days and they could try out other handguns then. He took her hand and held onto it, leaning in a bit closer then she liked,  so she took a step back and gave him a weak smile before yanking her hand from his.  
  
He turned and left,  not seeing her wipe her hand on her jeans. But the motion didn't go unnoticed by a turian that was a few stalls down.  


* * *

  
  
Thane asked her how her training went and she gave a shrug,  telling him out of the two hours she was there she hit the target a dozen times. He blinked at her. "I - I see. That is... interesting."  
  
"Incredibly bad you mean." She gave a huff and a small laugh. "I don't know. The instructor told me not to worry about it,  since I was just starting. I felt like I was wasting his time." She didn't tell him about how he made her skin crawl. "Maybe I will do better when my next lesson happens."  
  
"Possibly." He grinned at her then went back to the glassed in room to help one of the collectors locate a rare edition of _An Elcor's Holiday by Ushala_.  


* * *

  
  
A month had passed and she had improved somewhat at the range, she was finding it difficult because of the way that Walton would press in too close, would speak next to her ear and the way he insisted on putting his hands on her hips, "to correct her stance." She was almost ready to give up and call it quits. On the other hand her lessons with Thane were actually going well, her flexibility was improving and she had started to learn what he called "Umeni",  or a form of drell martial arts. His lips twisted into a smirk when he told her it was usually taught to children at age 5,  so it should suit. Her jaw had dropped then she smacked his arm as he laughed at her.  
  
That evening she was on the way to her next firearms class when she felt a chill race up her spine. She glanced around and saw that same male following her that had been outside of the store. She pushed in a code on her omni tool and kept on walking. A few minutes later a familiar voice greeted her, "hi there, Sara. Long time no see. How you been?" Sara let out a sigh of relief as Vega jogged her way.  
  
He walked with her to the shop then quietly asked if she wanted him to wait. She shook her head no, the male that had been following her had broke off when Vega had joined her. "I'll report it to Shepard,  let him know that pendejo is still hanging around. Call us if you need us, Sara."  


* * *

  
  
When she entered the gun range she was still jumpy, Walton didn't seem to notice. He handed her a gun,  one of the ones she really didn't like all that much, and told her that she would do well with this one since it would be for self defense. "Plenty of stopping power. This one seems to be just the ticket for you, out of all the ones we have tried this past month,  this one will be the best."  
  
He didn't seem to notice her grimace as she struggled with handling the large gun. When her lesson was over that night the muscles in her shoulder were hurting from the strain of holding up the gun and keeping herself from jumping out of her skin every time Walton got close to her.  
  
"Alright, Sara. You did well tonight. Why don't you wait here for a second, I want to go grab a mod to put on that gun and have a few minutes for you to try it out, if you like it we can use it next time."  She nodded,  just wanting to get him away from her for a few minutes. After he left the stall she let out a breath and leaned against the dividing wall.  
  
"Excuse me,  are you alright? I noticed you were struggling with that weapon earlier."  
  
Sara's eyes shot open as she heard a flanging voice near her. She straightened up away from the wall and nodded, "yeah, sure I'm fine. I'm just learning is all."  
  
"Hmm. You know. If you aren't satisfied with a weapon, comfortable with how it feels to you, no matter how much you practice you won't get any better."  
  
Sara chewed her bottom lip as she glanced between the gun laying on the rest and the turian who was talking to her. He was tall for a turian, she guessed about six and a half feet. His hide was the color of milk chocolate with darker brown plates. His eyes were a brilliant amber color and she traced his cream colored colony markings with her eyes. He looked like a giant bar of mixed chocolate. Her stomach growled when she thought of it.  
  
"The instructor said it would be perfect for me,  just what I needed." She gave a shrug. He scratched at his forehead. "Listen,  I know you don't know me. But I have watched you guys this past month,  and quite frankly, I have seen how you flinch and how that guy acts. If you are uncomfortable around him you should say something to Etarn about it. He will find you someone that makes you feel more comfortable, it will help with your concentration and you will improve."  
  
She shrugged again, "I'm not so sure I'm cut out for handling a gun anyway. I don't know if I'm going to keep coming for lessons."  
  
He let out a huff, "look, I don't know what brought you to the range, but don't let this experience turn you against learning. My name is Julian, Julian Patrus. If you want you can look at some of the handguns I have with me. Maybe you would like one of those better. No pressure and I won't touch you,  unless you give me the okay to do so and only to correct. What that other guy was doing was not ... correcting." She glanced up at him again and chewed the inside of her cheek. She wasn't getting the creepy vibe from him. She crossed her arms protectively across her chest and nodded, "alright. My name is Sara."  
  
He opened one of the hard cases on the table behind the stall he was in and carried several handguns to the rest removing the rifles he had been using and placing them in a different case. When he had set out all of the ones he had on him he indicated for her to proceed him into the stall. He pointed to each one telling her the name of them along with who made it. He showed her there were no heat sinks or simulation packs in them so they wouldn't fire if she wanted to pick one up to test the grip on it.  
  
She wiped her hands on her jeans and then reached for the one to the furthest left, picking up each one and holding it. He pointed to her wrist and told her to keep it straighter and not grip the gun so hard in her hand. He pointed to her white knuckles and she eased up some, the gun resting more in her other hand. "Keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire. That's a big safety thing." She moved her finger from the trigger, blushing because she knew that,  and stretched it along the side. "That's better. Let me know if you find one you want to try out." He leaned against the wall and didn't say anything unless it was to correct her hold or remind her of safe handling. He let her take her time.  
  
She had just pointed to one of the smaller pistols when Walton came back into the range, looked around and came stomping their way. Julian noticed how Sara stiffened and took a step back away from the stall opening. He moved slightly closer and a bit in front of her, still giving her room,  but took up a more protective posture then what he had been just minutes before.  
  
"Ms. Maloy,  there you are. I have that mod for your gun. Is this guy bothering you? You shouldn't have left that weapon unattended."  
  
"Actually,  you are the instructor. It is your responsibility to secure the weapons before you leave the simulation range. As a student she should not have been left alone here with a weapon that wasn't her own to begin with." Julian took a step toward the shorter male. "I will be reporting your oversight to Mr. Tiron as soon as we are finished here. She will no longer be requiring training from you."  
  
"Excuse me,  I don't know who you are but that is not your call to make. If Ms. Maloy is unhappy with the training she is receiving from me she would have told Mr. Tiron about it already." Walton crossed his arms and took a more aggressive stance.  
  
"I will be staying here with Mr. Patrus, he is showing me his handguns and is answering my questions on them. I don't think I will be needing to continue the lessons. I'll speak with Mr. Tiron myself later about it. Thank you for this past month's lessons." Sara had moved out from behind Julian but stayed near him as Walton let out a snarl and stormed over to the other stall,  grabbing up the gun and whirling around exiting the range.  
  
She let out a shaky breath. "Hey, you okay?" Julian asked gently,  his flanging voice washing over her. She shrugged. "Yeah,  I think I will be. Guess I won't be having any more lessons here though, doubt Mr. Tiron is going to like me making one of his instructors angry like that."  
  
Julian let out a laugh, "Etarn would turn that guy inside out if he knew what he had been doing. He set up those ladies only classes for a reason you know. And it wasn't so jackasses like that guy could get away with harassing you the way he was. Enough of that though,  you were wanting to try out this small Edge III pistol?" She nodded and waited as he told her it was from Elkoss Combine, not top of the line or extremely powerful,  but it did the job. He put in a simulation pack and laid it on the rest, giving her time to pick it up when she was ready. He reset the target and waited.  
  
She took a breath,  picked it up and aimed down range. "Okay, loosen up a bit more. That's it. Now lean forward at your hips just a bit more. Bend your knees a bit. Okay,  when you're ready, pull the trigger." He glanced at her again,  his eyes moving over her small frame. For a minute he wondered what she was doing here,  what caused her to want to learn to handle a gun when she clearly had no real interest in them. He saw her swallow and turned his attention to the target just as she pulled the trigger. The machine registered a hit. She put the gun on the rest and he brought up the readout, she hit the shadow area just below the rib cage.  
  
He grinned down at her,  his mandibles fluttered, "not bad, Sara. Not bad at all for the first shot from a different gun. Would you like to try one of the others or stick with that one?" She blinked at the readout,  looking over it again then grinned up at him. "Would you mind terribly if I tried that one again?" He flicked his mandibles and put in a different simulation pack. "You can try it out as much as you like, Sara." He leaned against the dividing wall and watched as she slowly relaxed while handling the gun.  
  
After another hour she told him she needed to go home, thanking him profusely for helping her. In that one hour she had gained more confidence and had better results then the entire month before. "Well,  I am here every evening from just after 18:00 hours to 22:00 hours. Feel free to stop by, let Etarn or Hilon at the desk know you are here to see me. I will be glad to let you try out one of the other handguns or that same Edge III if you like. When you are ready to buy one, if you want my help, just tell Etarn he'll give me a call, be glad to give you advice on something."  


* * *

  
  
"Etarn,  that guy you had teaching Sara, you need to do something about him. This entire month he has been doing the whole, touching to correct bullshit to her that he did with that other lady." Julian pulled his weapons cart behind him as he stepped up to the counter. "I know that other one didn't say a word, just up and left,  but this time,  this time I had enough. Sara was so damn jumpy she couldn't hit the side of a Krogan Tomkah if it was parked right in front of her. And he was pushing one of those damn M-358's on her. It was too heavy and too much gun for her to start with." He tapped his talons on the counter when Etarn's subharmonics started to sound out his disgust, "I told him he wouldn't be teaching her anymore, he got pissed and stormed out. He left her in that range with a weapon,  alone. Then blamed her for leaving it unattended when she came into my stall to see what I had."  
  
"I'll send him his termination notice and note the file for future references. I'll let her know that I'll find her a new instructor as soon as I can." Etarn brought up the contact list rapidly typing out the messages and sending them off.  
  
"Well,  I sort of told Sara to stop by any time, that I would help her out." Julian cleared his throat, his one mandible flicked to the side and he scratched his forehead. Etarn looked over at him, "ahh, I see. Well if she is comfortable with it, that's fine by me." He looked closer at Julian who was now holding in his mandibles tight to his face. "You know, she's single. I haven't seen her with a male yet. She works over at the Bound Enlightenment Emporium. Maybe you should stop in and see her sometime."  
  
"Don't start on me about that again, Uncle Etarn." Julian crossed his arms over his chest as Etarn let out a humpf sound. "Well,  it was only a suggestion. Not as if I have kids of my own, not as if I will ever have grandkids. So what if you are my only sister's,  only child,  and not bonded yet. So what, that I have yet to hold a great niece or nephew in my arms before I get too old to teach them things."  
  
Julian let out a huffing sound as his mandibles started to click."Knock it off Etarn,  you can still get married and have kids yet,  so don't go playing that card with me again."  
  
"Hmmfp,  you young people now a days. When I was your age if I spoke back like you do, they would make me carry a fully loaded pack and hunt Shatha all on my own."  
  
"Uh huh... you and your damn Shatha stories. I gotta get home, I'll stop by on my rounds tomorrow. See you then, Uncle." Julian flicked out a mandible then walked out the door, not seeing the speculative look in his Uncles' eyes or the way he reached for his omni tool the second the door shut behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to everyone reading and supporting this story. 
> 
> As many of you know, Turian romances are not easy for me to write, so please if you see something that just doesn't fit, other then characterization ... these are OC's and Julian is not meant to be a copy of Garrus, please let me know.
> 
> Enjoy.

* * *

 

 

When Sara arrived at work the next morning Thane noticed the difference in her. She was smiling more and looked liked she had actually slept some the night before. He waited until there was a lull in the customers and asked her about how her lessons were coming along. "I did it, Thane. Last night I was finally able to hit the target with more accuracy."  
  
"Hmm,  well I am glad the lessons are paying off." Thane hid the smirk that was threatening his lips. Etarn had messaged him last night and told him everything that went on. Giving a not so gentle nudge about getting those two together in a setting more conducive to romance. He knew Etarn had been after his nephew to find a bond mate and he didn't care if she was turian or not. He wanted babies to spoil.

* * *

  
  
Several evenings passed before she got up the nerve to go to the range again. Etarn greeted her even more warmly then usual, causing her eyebrow to raise. He assured her that Walton was no longer employed there,  he would brook no harassment at his range and made sure the human knew it. He took her back to the range and waited until Julian had removed the simulation pack from the weapon and put it on the rest before he escorted her to the stall.  
  
Julian smiled down at her and then snapped his head up when he heard Etarn's subharmonics sounding out his happiness and how he couldn't wait for babies. The flash and snap of an omni tool went off as he took a holo before rushing out. Julian's harmonics cursing at him the entire way to the door.  
  
"Is everything alright? He seemed a bit... err,  happier then he usually is." Sara stood with her hands in her back pockets,  her lips quirked a bit as she chewed her inner cheek. "Yeah,  don't pay any attention to him,  he's being,  what's the human word ... presumptuous concerning something. He needs to keep his nose to himself and out of my business."  
  
She let out a laugh, "I see you have spent some time around humans." His nose gave a slight wiggle and he let out a laugh, "yeah,  I work at C-Sec,  so am surrounded by them all day. Some of your more colorful sayings rub off." He leaned back against the wall, "so are you here for another lesson or did you just want to see me? Not that I mind either way." His mandibles flicked to the side as he gave her a grin, noticing the way her face changed colors. Interesting. He would have to ask one of his human friends about what that meant.  
  
"I ... uh,  was hoping you would let me try out that gun again." She nervously shifted on her feet,  she could still feel her face flaming red as a beet.  
  
"Sure,  just let me put these other ones away first." Julian took his time carefully making sure they were unloaded and the safety on before taking them from the stall and placing them in his transporting cases. The Citadel had become more stringent on just who could have weapons and how they were transported since the latest series of gang related incidents. His investigation was still ongoing,  not really sure yet about how they were able to smuggle so many weapons and incendiary devices on to the station,  but he was determined to find out. That last bombing took out several floors of a trade center and severely damaged the buildings next to it. He thanked the Spirits that his Uncle's shop was on the other side of the ward.  
  
He popped the lock on the handgun case and started to bring them over, the Edge III came first, followed by several other small ones. "I happen to have brought some of the smaller handguns along too,  just in case you stopped by." Alright,  so that was a lie ... sort of. He had swapped out all the handguns for the small ones that first night and dragged that case to the range every day in the hopes that she would show up. But he would be damned if he ever told Etarn that. Him and his constant harping about finding a mate... this entire week it was calls every night about Sara, Sara, Sara. He couldn't even stop in to restock his personal heatsinks without Etarn starting on him.  
  
"Oh, alright." Sara watched him as he placed them carefully on the rest, then went back to get a small bucket and put it on the floor by his feet. "Alright, Sara. Let's see what you remember from the lessons you had already, then we can go from there. I may need to touch you to correct you,  if at any time you feel uncomfortable,  you must tell me. Promise?"  
  
She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, "alright." She walked into the stall and grabbed one of the guns. "Whoa there." He gave her a gentle smile as he placed a hand over hers."Never,  ever grab one up like that. Always assume the firearm is loaded, the safety off, and has a hair trigger. Any of those things could prove fatal to you or to someone that is near you,  if it is loaded. If you are in a situation where you must react like that, be sure to keep your finger well away from the trigger. You have to practice and always keep in mind the safety of innocents that may be near you." She blushed and nodded at him. "Let's try it again, ok?" Julian's tones became soft,  not wanting her to feel like he was reprimanding her,  but trying to instill a sense of safety consciousness to her.  
  
She picked up the gun more carefully this time. He noticed her finger was indeed away from the trigger and praised her on it. Her lips twitched a bit and her shoulders eased. "Okay, now what is the first thing you should do?" She thought about it, "check the safety and make sure it isn't loaded, jammed or otherwise damaged."  
  
"Okay,  go ahead and do that, make sure to keep it pointed downrange." He watched as she followed all the steps,  correcting her when needed. When she was done she put it back on the rest and he bent down picking out one of the simulation packs from the bucket. "Alright,  very good. Load it up and when you are ready,  set the target and begin. If I see something that needs correcting I'll let you know."  
  
For the first hour he stood to the side,  watching and correcting her stance. A few times reminding her not to cup the butt of the gun in her hand but to have the majority of it wrapped around the other hand. They changed guns a few times, each time going over the safe handling of each one. After another hour he started to spend more time watching the way her muscles would ripple as the gun recoiled,  or the slight way her breasts would give a jiggle as she fired the gun,  or worse when she bent over to get another pack from the bucket. His mind would wander into places best left alone. He snapped back to attention as she sighed and stretched. Her waist elongated.

  
Spirits ...  
  
"Thanks, Julian." She smiled up at him,  a slight blush coming to her face as she noticed the way he was staring at her.  
  
"You're welcome. When will I get to see you again? Uh... I mean ... when do you think you will be stopping by?" His mandibles were flicking like mad. "I'll make sure to bring those handguns along. Maybe we can go to the other side of the range for live fire practice."  
  
"Umm,  my next night off isn't until this weekend. I have self defense practice and classes."  
  
"Oh, ok. Well, I'll see you then. Maybe we can, I don't know,  grab something to eat afterward? We can talk about ... things." He started scratching his crest wondering just what the hell he was doing.  
  
"I don't think that would be a good idea." He saw her hang her head and heard a quavering note to her voice.  
  
"Okay, well, I'll be here then this weekend. Think about if you want to try the live fire range. I'll be right there with you.  The actual recoil of the gun is slightly different then from the sim rounds, so it will be good to do that too. So when you buy one of our own, you can make a better choice." He tried not to let the disappointment he felt show. Maybe he moved too fast,  from what the human males said in the locker room, their women  would usually take a bit of coaxing to go out on dates. A few more minutes and she told him she would see him then and left. Julian on the other hand, banged his head against the divider as soon as the door to the range closed.  
  
Etarn was standing at the counter as the last customer of the night left. As soon as he saw Julian walk through the range door he started. "So how did it go tonight? You know she would make a good mate. She may be human but Thane said she was a good female. Smart and well liked. Dependable too."  
  
"Shut it, Uncle. She's not interested. I asked her out and she turned me down." Julian dragged his case behind him as he started for the door,  in no mood for his Uncle's matchmaking that night. "Turned you down? But Thane said she was available and didn't seem to be one that had anything against non humans. What the hell did you do to make her say no?"  
  
"She didn't exactly say, no. She said she didn't think it was a good idea. I don't know, something seemed off. I'm going home. I'll talk to you later." Julian walked out the door as soon as it slid open, his usual cocky walk a bit more subdued.  
  
Etarn watched until Julian had passed the window,  his mandibles tight to his face. He opened his omni tool and placed a call to Thane. "Thane, what is going on with Sara? She turned down my nephew and he seemed to think something was wrong."  
  
Thane looked at Etarn wondering just how much he should tell him. "Sara needs a bit more time,  there has been an issue that has made itself known. We are dealing with it now." Etarn stared at the drell, his mandibles working furiously,  his subharmonics sounding out a question. Thane's trill was all the answer he needed.

* * *

  
  
They had just finished up that nights self defense lesson. It had become habit that she shower and change as Thane ordered their evening meal.  
  
They sat at his small table, "Thane,  how did you get involved with The Consortium? I know you are not one of their,  employees, I guess you could call it."  
  
"Hmm. No, I am an outside contact or resource you may say. This is quite a long tale, but I shall endeavor to make it a bit shorter." He put his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "I have told you before that I have not always been a book seller. Many years ago I was, you could say,  employed by the Hanar Illuminated Primacy as a problem solver. I met a female, she was beautiful,  a fiery spirit that shone bright as the sun. I fell in love with her and somehow convinced her to marry me. We had a son, a marvelous gift from the gods." He took a drink of his wine. "I continued to work, but it was taking me further away from home." His tone changing into one with less emotion. "On one of the occasions I was gone,  our home was broken into. My wife was murdered. My son, was not at home at the time. I left the employ of the hanar and went after those responsible for my wife's death. I left my son in the care of relatives."  
  
Sara shifted on her chair,  her eyes misting up. She had no idea Thane had been married,  let alone lost his wife. And where was his son? He never spoke of him.  
  
"Years had passed before I finally found the very last one responsible. So many years. My son was now a full grown man. He left Kahje and moved here to the Citadel. I contacted him once,  was told I wasn't needed. I didn't bother to show up when he was a child so don't bother coming around now." He let out a sigh, "I did as he asked. A year later one of the contacts I had here messaged me. Told me to hurry to the Citadel that it was about my son. When I arrived here, I was met by my contact and taken to Huerta Memorial. My son was in the morgue. He had been beaten to death by his lover. I was handed a small contact chit, he told me that it had been in among my sons possessions. It was the contact information for The Consortium. I spoke with Shepard and he showed me that my son had been in and out of the hospital for a while, that they had tried to save him. Kolyat had just waited to long. Needless to say I found the man that took away my son. When Shepard learned of what I had done he contacted me again. He offered me a position, I turned him down. I wanted nothing more to do with death. He instead asked me to help in a different way,  by offering a safe haven and employment to ones that they had rescued. Several months later the Bound Enlightenment Emporium was opened for business."  
  
By this time tears were streaming down Sara's face. The emotions she was feeling had closed off her voice. "Ahh, dear Sara. Do not cry for my loss. It is in the past and I am finding atonement for my mistakes in helping ones such as yourself." He reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze.  
  
"I'm so sorry that I brought it up,  I had no idea." Sara's voice was harsh and cracking from the sadness she was feeling.  
  
"The years have softened the pain and I try not to dwell on it. I find fulfillment in helping ones such as you to move on in their lives,  to find safety and strength. To learn to live again and not be in constant fear. When someone that I have watched over finally finds their own strength and learns to live, and in some cases love,  again,  that pain becomes even less."  
  
He gathered up the dishes, "there are many of us,  a giant web of those that have felt the loss of a loved one,  or those that have been in your situation that are now helping others to gain their freedom. None of us are alone here. We all support each other. There are many more that are involved because they are appalled that it is still happening. Males and females from almost every species have come together to help in any way they can. Citadel, Illium, Earth and on Palaven,  almost every homeworld and some of the larger colonies have connections in some way to The Consortium."  
  
It was a quiet walk home that night. Sara deep in thought and Thane in remembrance. He spotted a Consortium watcher near Sara's building as he walked her to the entrance before saying farewell.

* * *

  
  
Sara woke to her omni tool giving off an incessant ringing tone of a message notification. She sighed and opened her tool up, then almost screamed.  
  
"Good morning, Sarah. I see you have slept well. Don't get used to being so lazy. Soon you shall have plenty to keep you busy. Mostly it will be on your hands and knees or with your mouth...",  she slammed the omni tool closed and ran to her terminal. Her omni tool started ringing again as she placed a call to the emergency contact number she had for The Consortium.  
  
"You have reached the offices of The Consortium,  how may I direct your call?", the computerized voice answered. "Emergency code 458,  ID number S54M905."  
  
"One moment,  connecting you now." Not even five seconds later a female came on the line, her Australian accent was clearly noticeable, "location? Is the person nearby?"  
  
"I'm at my home,  and unknown. He contacted me on my unlisted omni tool number and it keeps ringing. I made the mistake of opening it up. It was unlisted ..." She heard rapid typing on the line.  
  
"Stay away from doors and windows, your support has been notified and we have help on the way. Do not answer your omni tool,  you will be provided a different tool. Contact information must be input manually,  do not use the transfer function." Sara sat on her chair,  her legs shaking too much to hold her up.  
  
"Sara, your help should be at your door within 10 seconds. Do not open it until I give you the all clear. Is that understood?" the female calmly told her.  
  
"Yeah." She stood up and moved closer to the door. "Alright, Sara. Open the door then once your help is inside lock it immediately." Sara ran to the door and hit the override,  the door swished open and Etarn hurried inside. She locked the door,  her eyes wide at the sight of the turian.  
  
"This is help coded number E43L28T80, all clear. Will be transporting subject to safe house. Number 58H7." Etarn's flanging voice echoed in the tiny apartment.  
  
"Understood and noted. Consortium out." There was a click on the terminal's line.  
  
Etarn turned toward Sara and cleared his throat. "You're probably wondering why it is me here and not Thane? He couldn't leave the store and I was the closest available of your assigned support network. You need to pack a bag, essentials only and several changes of clothing. Take off your omni tool, I'll shut it down then get you to the safe house." She stood there with her mouth gaping open before she seemed to snap out of it and hurry to the bedroom. Etarn shut down her terminal unplugging it from the wall,  placing it in the pack he had. She came out carrying a small overnight bag and handed him the still ringing omni tool. He pulled out a thin piece of metal and inserted it into a tiny slit on the side of the tool. The ringing immediately stopped.  
  
"You ready? Got everything you need for a few days?" When she nodded he gently took her by the elbow and led her to the door. "We need to move quickly, Sara. Once out that door there is no stopping and turning back to grab something. Are you absolutely sure you have everything. I have your secure terminal, don't worry about that." She rubbed her forehead, "I'm ready Mr. Tiron."  
  
He smiled at her, "call me, Etarn, Sara. No need to stand on formality any longer." He gave light squeeze to her elbow,  then reached for the door.

* * *

  
  
They had weaved in and out of traffic in order to lose anyone trying to tail them. All of a sudden Etarn put the skycar into a nose dive and slipped neatly into a small roof top garage. "Quickly, Sara." They hurried from the car practically running for the emergency stairs. Going down several floors then through the door,  he rushed her to the small door at the end of the hallway. He quickly input a code then guided her through the door as soon as it opened. "Welcome to my home, Sara."  
  
"You will be safe here for the next few days. Normally it would only be overnight as this is listed as an emergency stop location, but an exception can be made in your case. Let me show you where you can place your bag,  then we need to contact Thane and let him know you are safe."  
  
"Sara, are you safe? I am sorry that I could not be there,  as you know today was the day that the Collectors gathered here. They had already arrived by the time the call came in. To have shoved them out the door and taken off to get you would have drawn too much speculation." Thane's worried tone came through loud and clear on the comm call.  Sara assured him she was fine,  just had been shaken up badly.  
  
"Stay there for the next few days. After you are contacted by Shepard then we can go from there. If you need me, call."  
  
Later that evening Etarn received a call from one of The Consortium's technical experts and hurried to get Sara who had been trying to concentrate on her studies but failing miserably.  
  
"Ms. Maloy,  my name is Tali'Zorah. I have been contacted by others and asked to examine your omni tool for hacks and also to trace a call to your private number. You will be receiving an app to that terminal,  when you get it, connect your omni tool to the terminal using the wires that Mr. Tiron will hand you. I will walk you through the process needed to run a safe scan. Just let me know when you are ready."  
  
Tali walked her through the process then was asked to wait, Sara sat on the chair nervously biting her nails until Tali came back on the line. "There are no hacks to your omni tool. It is secure. The contact number that called you was spoofed. It was faked,  in other words. A real number was used,  not belonging to the actual caller, they used that to bypass the safety protocols embedded in the chip that was placed in your tool. The number is being traced right now, it was bounced through several locations to try and scramble it. This worries me, to go through so much trouble is not something one of these bosh'tets normally do. I will be making a full report to Shepard. It will take me a day or two to make a new app to install on your omni tool and secured terminal. Do not place any calls from either one. Use Mr. Tiron's terminal if you need to."  
  
"So I won't need to replace my tool?"  
  
"No, Ms. Maloy there is nothing wrong with it. Just needs to have a different app installed. Are there any other questions?" Sara shook her head no and thanked the quarian that was on the other end of the call before it was terminated.

* * *

  
  
The days passed with Etarn dodging the questions Julian fired off at him about why he wasn't at work. Finally the new app arrived. That night Thane came and after assuring her that her apartment was secured he took her in a round about way home. The call hadn't originated on the Citadel but from one of the small outlying colonies in the Terminus. Sara breathed a slight sigh of relief before Thane reminded her that someone was still on the Citadel feeding information about her to her ex.

 

* * *

  
  
She decided to take Julian up on the live range training. She was nervous and jumpier then in the simulation range but quickly calmed as the gentle voice came to her over the built in speakers of the headgear. "Just like in the sim range. Always,  always safety first. Take it slow and easy. When you are ready, I'm right here beside you."  
  
When they were done he brought up her readout and showed her the difference in the live fire versus sim fire that she had. The recoil had indeed been more pronounced which had thrown off her aim. She looked over the readouts one more time then frowned.  
  
"Julian, I know I am asking a lot and taking most of your practice time away from you,  but can we meet up more often. And do this range? I'll pay for the heat sinks I use. I just ... I just need this."  
  
He looked down at her,  once again getting the feeling something wasn't right. His C-Sec training blaring at him that there was more here going on then what showed. "Sure, we'll talk to Etarn, he sometimes will offer discounts on heat sink packages for use here at the range. Just gather them up and trade them back to him, if they aren't damaged he will swap them out. All you would need to do is pay for any that can't be cooled and reused. Take care of them and they will last you for years." He smiled at her. "I have several that are so old they probably have saved me a small fortune by now."  
  
Etarn set her up with a dozen heatsinks.  When Julian had gone to drop his off at the machine, Etarn leaned on the counter and whispered to her. "Let me know when you want to start the paperwork to get licensing approval, The Consortium will streamline it. Once it comes back as approved I can get your firearm to you quickly and at cost. If you need a payment plan just let me know." She quickly nodded before he stood back up.  
  
"Sara, I am having a little get together at my place tomorrow night, nothing fancy. I would love it you would come also, Thane will be there as well."  
  
Julian snapped his head around to look at Etarn ... what the hell did he mean by get together? ... tomorrow was their game night ... and when the hell did he ask Krios over?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter. Having issues with writer's block on most of my stories. :( Will try and get new chapter out soon as I can.

* * *

 

 

Sara stood in front of her closet trying to find something to wear to Etarn's that night. He didn't say what kind of get together. Was it something formal? Maybe informal? Should she wear her one dress to it? Maybe some of her work clothes. Liara had insisted on a few nice tops to go with the human jeans she usually would wear away from work. Would something like that work? She let out a sigh and took a few steps back to sit on her bed. Maybe she should just call and tell them something came up and she couldn't go.  
  
Then she shook her head, no Etarn has been nothing but nice to her. Helped her when she needed it and gave her a safe place to stay when Thane couldn't. No, she would go and just hope that what she wore would be appropriate. She chose a soft blue silky camisole and a bolero style shrug in black,  matching them with the best of her dark colored jeans and the pair of boots that Liara had insisted she buy. She pulled open her top drawer and revealed her guilty pleasure; silk,  satin and lace in every color and style imaginable. After five years of nothing but plain white panties and bras she had indulged in Nos Astra. Liara had seen the way her eyes had lit up when they went to purchase underwear. At first she headed toward the plainer items that Liara had whispered was where the Matriarchs shopped,  her eyes kept shooting over to the other side of the store. Liara finally had enough and told her to get what she wanted,  there was no reason she couldn't have something she liked. After that there was no stopping her. Bra's, panties, camisoles, nighties all in a rainbow of colors and fabrics. Of course she also had other items. But these were for when she needed a bit extra moral support. She usually ended up wearing a set everyday and today she needed something special. She pulled out the set of black silk and lace thong with the matching lace push up bra.  
  


* * *

  
  
Thane showed up at her door to play escort. His brow ridge raised slightly, "you look quite lovely, Sara." Which caused her to blush and wonder if she had overdid it with the clothing and light application of makeup. "Thanks,  I wasn't sure what to wear." She looked him over,  he was as usual wearing the drell leathers. This set in a mixture of black and red.  
  
When they arrived at Etarn's apartment,  they were greeted enthusiastically. Etarn gushing at how nice she looked and was glad she could come over. Thane waited until Etarn drew her away and ahead of him before shaking his head and giving a light grin. That turian was bound and determined to play matchmaker between his nephew and Sara.  
  
"Sara,  dear. What can I get you to drink, while we wait for Julian to finally get here." Etarn had her sitting on the sofa as Thane wandered into the living room area and went to sit next to her only to hear Etarn yelling at him to get his ass up and into the chair. Of course he had been using subharmonics so only his mandibles were clicking and waving around. Sara didn't hear a thing.  
  
"Oh uh,  whatever you have is fine, Etarn. Thank you." Sara felt nervous for some reason,  a slight tingle on her neck. She gave a slight shrug,  she knew nothing would happen to her in this safe place and tried to relax. A few minutes later Julian came through the door,  calling out for his uncle. He followed Etarn's voice to the kitchen where he was told to help carry drinks. Etarn practically ran out the kitchen carrying one in each hand heading for the living room.  
  
When Julian walked into the room he could see why his uncle was in a rush. Thane was in the one chair while Etarn sat in the other,  the only place left to sit was beside Sara on the couch. He flicked his mandible out in annoyance at his uncle before handing Sara her drink and sitting next to her."Thane, Sara glad you could both be here. Though why Uncle invited you over on game night I've no idea."  
  
"Julian, don't be rude. I thought instead of the ballgame we could watch something else." Etarn gave an annoyed chirp at his nephew. "Please excuse him Sara. Sometimes he forgets his manners. Now let's see." He activated his holoscreen and went scrolling through the streaming vids. "Ah, here we go."  
  
It was all Thane could do not to laugh at the sound of Julian's horrified subharmonics as the opening song from "Fleet and Flotilla" started to play. Etarn however was happily humming along to the music. Julian upended his bottle of Palavan's Spiced Lagar wishing he hadn't come. But... he glanced over at Sara who was watching the damn vid with what seemed like utter fascination.  
  
He got up and went for another drink after asking if anyone else wanted something, spent as much time in the kitchen as he could then slowly dragged his feet back to the living room. The next hour was spent on trying to figure out how to get the label off the bottle without tearing it. When Etarn let out a sigh and stated that "Fleet and Flotilla was still one of his favorite vids", he almost threw the bottle at him.  
  
"Thane,  help me in the kitchen to get the food ready. I don't know anything about what you and Sara need for your dinners."  
  
As soon as Etarn was out of the living room Julian lunged for the control to the holoscreen and started flipping through the channels until he found the ball game. "That darn Uncle of mine, he knew I had credits riding on this game. And I bet he didn't actually tell you or Thane that tonight was actually the night we spent watching the bioti-ball match." He saw her shaking her head. "You look very nice by the way." He leaned in and whispered to her so that his Uncle wouldn't hear him. Sara's cheeks turned that interesting shade of pink again that he had found out meant she was pleased and a bit embarrassed. If she had turned all red he was told that it was pure embarrassment  or in some cases anger and he was to run away from the woman as fast as he could. Especially if they happened to be anywhere near cooking pans.  
  
"Thank you. What is it that we are watching now?" Sara shifted on the couch,  she had been acutely aware of him the entire time that vid had been playing and she had no idea about what that even had been about.  
  
"This? It's called bioti-ball, a game played using biotics. The players are all biotics and they have to use just their biotics to get the ball through the goal of the opponent's team." Sara watched for a few minutes. "Huh, it's like what the European Nation, on Earth,  refer to as football. Only played with biotics and not using just your feet or bouncing it off your head." Sara told him a bit more about it when Julian had asked for details. She couldn't give him many because she hadn't watched since she was a young girl.  
  


* * *

  
  
"What are they in there doing? Is he kissing her yet? That vid should have put them in the mood." Etarn was trying to see into the living room and fix plates of food at the same time. Oftentimes almost knocking the plate off the counter.  
  
Thane let out a slight trilling laugh. "They are sitting there talking and Julian has the ball game on."  
  
Etarn let out a series of clicks."What are they talking about? Has he asked her out again? Is he sitting close to her? What am I going to do with that boy?"  
  
"Etarn, I don't know what they are talking about or any of the other things you have asked. All I can tell is they are talking and watching the game." Thane was placing items on both her plate and his own in a specific sequence,  it looked like he was making the food look as appetizing as he could, while Etarn was just plopping the turians food on the plates. "Well,  go find out. I can't sneak up on them to listen. But no one hears you unless you want them too. So go find out."  
  
"No, Etarn. Just let them be for a while. They are finally starting to relax. And you know Sara is going to be resistant after everything that has happened. She needs time." Thane had just put a garnish on each of their plates when he heard a sigh from Etarn. "Have they found out anything yet? About who is on the Citadel feeding out intel?"  
  
"Not that I am aware. Shepard did however send me a warning to watch her over the next several days. He is sending in a recon team to where that vid call was placed from. Depending on what they find, activity around her could ramp up,  especially if they figure she may have had something to do with it. Shepard is also a bit worried, he told me that there have been other victims found, but it usually only took a show of force from one of the Protection squads to get them to back off. But with this man, he has went pretty far, a spy, viral attack on her computer and now finding out her unlisted number and calling her? He thinks there is something more going on here. That Sara knows something or may not realize she does,  and it's something big." Etarn let out a worried hum and piled his stuff on a tray as Thane did the same, taking it into the living room. Etarn was still deep in thought and didn't notice Julian's grimace as he looked at the piles of mixed food on his plate, while glancing at Sara's noticing the nice geometric design that Thane had assembled.  
  


* * *

  
  
An hour after the game ended Thane told them he had to leave,  he needed to open the store early as a new shipment was coming in. He thanked them and after being hastily reassured by Etarn that Sara would be escorted home was practically shoved out the door before Sara could even open her mouth to say she needed to go too.  
  
"So Sara,  how are you enjoying your range training. From the readouts that I have seen your progress is coming along nicely."  
  
"I think I'm doing better. With Julian's help,  of course." Sara sat nervously wiping her hands on her thighs. They spoke a while longer then she told them she also needed to go home and thanked them for the evening. She got up and nervously walked to their door. Etarn shoved Julian and quickly said, "Julian why don't you be a gentleman and walk Sara home, while I clean up.You have a pleasant evening Sara, I'll see you soon."  
  
Julian stood staring at his Uncle's door for a minute. Then let out a sigh. "Sorry about that. He can be ... pushy at times." He walked beside her to the transport. "It's alright,  you don't need to walk me home. It's just a short walk from the stop to my apartment."  
  
Julian let out a snort, "if I don't do this the way he expects me to, I'll never here the end of it. Besides, I don't mind. So you work for Thane at his book store. How are you liking it? How did you meet him anyway? He never advertises for help,  I don't know how in the world he ever finds his employees. They usually don't stay more then a few months,  though. You've been there over a year now."  
  
"Yeah,  he goes through an ... outside agency. I got lucky. I happen to like the job and until I get my degree I plan on sticking around. He's a nice guy."  
  
They were walking to the apartment when Julian noticed several of the lights were out near where they were heading. He thought it was unusual,  normally the keepers were on it pretty fast especially during the night cycle. Certainly never large sections like this in the residential districts. He stopped to open his omni tool to type in the notice to C-Sec and report the large outage for safety reasons, Sara however kept on walking . He didn't see the human male that jumped out and grabbed Sara at first.  
  
"Well, well. Look who I have here. I told you Sara. I would be back. Hope you kept that bed nice and warm for me, because you won't be leaving it for a while other then to cook my food." A gravely voice hissed. Julian looked up at what was going on. Sara hadn't got more then a few feet within the darkened zone,  but it was still several feet to many alone.  
  
The male had Sara pinned face first into the wall, and was roughly grabbing her breast. Julian didn't waste time yelling or pulling a gun on the large human male,  he just leaped forward, letting out a throaty growl, grabbing the male by the back of the neck and yanking.  The male didn't let go of Sara right way and she cried out before Julian punched the guy in the kidney area. As soon as he let go, she dropped to the ground and tried to crawl away.  
  
Julian grabbed the male by the collar again, "C-Sec,  you're under arrest for assault." He reached into a holder under his tunic drawing out the cuffs when a shot rang out and Sara screamed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick thank you to all my readers. I appreciate you giving this story a look. Enjoy.

* * *

 

 

When the bullet embedded itself into the wall next to Julian, he yanked the male to the ground. Another shot rang out causing Sara to scream again as the bullet kicked up small pieces of debris from the ground where it had hit beside her. The human was struggling in his grasp and finally the shirt tore as Julian tried to drag him toward where Sara was to get her to safety. He let out a growl as he lunged for her and rolled them behind a bench as another shot hit the ground where he had been. Sara started to struggle in his arms and he heard her scream out something that sounded like "ceto, ceto". Her omni tool started to glow and the sound of running feet were heard as well as several shouts.  
  
Sara had a tight hold on Julian not letting him go by the time they heard someone approaching them. Julian tried to hush her as he held his weapon at the ready. "C-Sec! Stay where you are. Hands where I can see them."  
  
"I'm a friend of Sara's. She knows me." A human male called out, the Hispanic accent in his voice causing her to look up at him. "Vega?" He nodded and they soon heard more running footsteps headed their way. Thane and Etarn were running at them as well, their calls asking if they were alright.

"Vega?" He nodded and they soon heard more running footsteps headed their way. Thane and Etarn were running at them as well, their calls asking if they were alright.  
  
"What happened here, Vega? I thought there were watchers." Thane was checking over Sara as Etarn was checking Julian.

"There was, Scales. Pritchard was on duty here,  I was on my way to relieve him for a few hours when I heard the shots and the alert went off. One of the others is checking him now, looks like he took a concussive round and was out cold. We're gonna have to move her and contact Shepard. Somehow they found out about the watchers. Otherwise Pritchard wouldn't have been taken out."  
  
"Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here? Who was that guy,  who shot at us and who are you? What does this have to do with Sara? And how did you two know something was going on?" Julian still had one arm wrapped around a shaking Sara and the pistol in the other hand.  
  
Thane looked at Vega who shrugged, "we'll tell you as Sara is being checked over by the doctor. You might want to get checked too." Thane turned to Vega, "we'll take her to see the doctor. She can stay with Etarn tonight,  we'll find her another place soon. Have one of the others pack her belongings and scan them. Have Shepard contact me as soon as he finds out what is going on. He may want to alert others just in case this wasn't centered just on Sara."  
  
"I'll send a message to Doc in advance so he's ready when you get there. Now best to move before C-Sec gets here and there are too many questions." Vega used his omni tool as he turned and went running for the alleyway.  
  
"It will be alright, Sara. We have to go now, we need to hurry." Thane's calm voice came to her and she nodded,  still not letting go of Julian.

"Now just a minute, Krios. We can't leave here until we file a report with C-Sec. Someone fired shots at an officer and assaulted Sara."  
  
Etarn pulled Julian's arm to get them moving, "not now, Julian. Stow it until we tell you what is going on. She can't stay here and no one can be told about this. Now move it."  


* * *

  
  
Etarn and Thane started to fill Julian in on what had happened to Sara and how she had come to be on the Citadel. They told him she was still in danger that unlike most of the others, her ex didn't seem to want to give up for some reason. Vega came in a short time later holding up another human male and helping him to a gurney before sitting on another chair. By the time they were finished explaining to Julian about Sara he was sitting there with his head in his hands. "Are you both seriously asking me to not file a report about this? There are people on the Citadel with illegal firearms, they have assaulted her and tried to shoot us."  
  
"Julian, listen to me. It has taken a lot of time and resources to try and protect her,  and not just her but so many others as well. The Consortium and its people can't come under the scrutiny of C-Sec or anyone else. They have tried to help so many people,  have helped so many abused men and women. Think of how many that wouldn't be helped if they have to stop doing this or hide it even deeper." Etarn sat beside him while Thane stood near the door keeping an eye on the corridor.  
  
"Why couldn't they just go to the authorities,  file reports. This Consortium sounds shady." Julian sat staring at Vega and the other man that was laying on the gurney.  
  
"Most of them did, amigo. They weren't believed or the pendejo that was hurting them lied and was let off. You haven't seen a woman beat so bad she couldn't move or talk, broken and bloody laying in a hospital bed and having the authorities asking the same questions over and over then only telling the lady they would look into it. Then having the person that did it take them from the hospital. Sometimes they get lucky and live,  find a way out. Other times they don't. The Consortium helps those that can't do it on their own. We help give them a fresh start. A chance at a life." Vega sat with his arms crossed and stared back at the turian.  
  
"Oh really? And I bet you charge them every credit they can get for your "services"." Julian stood up and started to pace.  
  
"Julian! Don't be rude. As a matter of fact they don't charge them anything. Ever. Most of The Consortium is made up of volunteers,  like Thane and me. We do what we can to help them. The ones that are paid are done so through The Consortium's other endeavors." Etarn was growing impatient at Julian's obstinance.  
  
A salarian came rushing out of Sara's room heading toward them and stopped in front of Vega. "Sara is fine. Shaken from being shot at. Given a light sedative to calm her. Need to get her to another safe house. Have already updated Shepard on her condition."  
  
Etarn walked over to him, "she will be staying with me,  Mordin. What do I need to know for her care?" Mordin turned to him, "hmm. Set up for short term only. Will need a different location. A new set of watchers. Maybe a guard inside or have Thane stay also. He's the best option for her safety. No further medications. May have nightmares until brain can process what happened. If they become severe or can't calm her, call me." He turned back to Vega, "unusual circumstance. Suggested to Shepard to call in Protection squad. Once she is feeling better Shepard will contact both of you,  he wants to see her. He is more then concerned about this situation."  
  
"What the hell do you mean by Protection squad?" Julian had come up to stand next to Etarn and Mordin turned to look at him. His eyes moved over the turian rapidly. "Don't know you. This is none of your concern."  
  
"Like hell it isn't. Someone shot at us."  
  
Etarn put a hand on Julian's shoulder and pulled him back from the salarian before he ended up flat on the floor from something Mordin did to him. "Mordin,  this is my nephew. He was with Sara when the attack happened." Mordin looked at Julian again. "Hmpf. C-Sec. Ineffective for this work,  need to keep this quiet. To many people could lose to much. Shouldn't have gotten him involved. Not Consortium."  
  
"He's dating her ... sort of. He would have been involved sooner or later." Etarn told him,  giving Julian's shoulder a warning squeeze when he started to say something. "Hmm. If serious about Sara maybe should be guard. Learn about her and The Consortium. Could be useful having another C-Sec to help when needed. But know this, divulge intel about The Consortium or any of the people under its protection then you will deal with me. Being Tiron's nephew won't protect you."  
  
Mordin opened his omni tool and touched it to Julian's. "File contains list of products needed for both you and Sara. Creams, lotions and specialized prophylactics. Will supply a prescription for epi-pens. Included diagrams of safe,  comfortable positions for both of you. If you need brochures or visual aids can supply those as well."  
  
Julian's mandibles were lax and his jaw dropped as he listened to what the salarian was saying. Vega was snickering behind his hand at the look the turian had. Thane had his eyes covered and should have known what Mordin would do. Embarrassing people seemed to be one of his favorite activities.  
  
When it seemed that Mordin had finished his little talk with Julian, Etarn led his stunned nephew away to sit on a chair and recover.  
  
"Sara is ready to be released. Notify me if needed. Vega, bring in Pritchard."  


* * *

  
They got Sara settled into Etarn's spare room and Thane left to pick up her belongings,  he would keep them in the storage room until she needed them.  
  
"Damn it Uncle,  what the hell is really going on here? How the hell did you get involved with these people?" Julian pulled one of the beers from the cooler and leaned against the counter. "It's just like we told you, Julian. Sara's ex used to be physically violent with her and has been threatening her.  That was probably the human that you saw attack her tonight. We have been trying to keep her safe. We know someone here on the Citadel has been keeping an eye on her and sending reports back to that human. As far as how I got involved...",  he gave a sigh and flicked his mandibles outward before closing his eyes.  
  
"One day Thane came into the shop,  a young asari maiden was with him. He asked about safety courses and training. I knew something was wrong but it never occurred to me it was because the asari was being mistreated by her mate. About a month later he came back in,  alone,  letting me know the female wouldn't be coming back in. I thought she was unhappy with her training, when I asked him if he knew why, he took me aside. She had been killed the night before by her mate who then killed herself. It was then that Thane explained what he did, how he had got involved with The Consortium. I just felt I had to do something,  I had no idea that abuse like that happened as often as it does." He grabbed a bottle and drank most of it.  
  
"By the end of that month,  I had contacted The Consortium, set up as a temporary safe stop and set up for the ladies only classes. A good portion of those women are or were in the same situation that Sara is in. Some of the men in the other courses are also." Etarn opened his eyes and looked at his nephew. "They are good people,  Julian. The Consortium is needed. Especially when the system fails them, when the abuser has so many friends in law enforcement or other places that the victim's cries for help go unanswered and the reports are swept under the carpet."  
  
"Asari ... the one that just stopped coming in? I thought she quit because of that instructor." Julian lowered his bottle looking at his Uncle. "No,  Julian. The instructor wasn't the reason, although if she had told me about him I would have gotten rid of him before Sara came in. But she was the reason I started those classes up."  
  
Julian dropped his head and walked to the living room to sit on the couch. Etarn made sure the locks were secure and the alarm was set before he told Julian good night and went to bed.  


* * *

  
  
He woke hearing a mewing sound and a low cry of fear. Julian made his way to the guest room and paused at the door. The sounds he had heard were coming from inside. That doctor had warned there could be nightmares. He opened the door and looked inside to check on Sara, the lights were low and he could see she was thrashing on the bed and letting out sounds of distress. He debated on going for Etarn but slipped inside of the room, walking slowly and as quietly as he could to the bed.  
  
Letting out a few low hums he eased himself down to sit on the mattress, "Sara, shh. It's okay,  you're safe here." She jerked awake and scrambled for the other side of the bed a look of fright on her face."It's me,  it's Julian. I came in to check on you. You were having a nightmare." He watched as she started to calm down,  her memories returning and the realization of who he was coming to her. She slowly slid back into the bed and sat up against the headboard.  
  
"Are you alright? That salarian mentioned nightmares. Do you want me to call him?" Julian adjusted the way he was sitting so he could face her. She shook her head, "no. No, I'm alright, just a bad dream." She couldn't quite meet his eyes.  
  
He cleared his throat, "they told me about what was going on. I'm sorry." She shrugged, "what have you to be sorry about? None of this is because of you." She started to pick at the blanket covering her legs. "It may not be because of me,  but I knew something was wrong and didn't bother to ask. Maybe if I had I would have been prepared for what happened. Kept my guard up instead of stopping to report light outages. If I would have paid more attention he wouldn't have got to you,  hurt you."  
  
"He would have found a way,  he always did. I'll be leaving the Citadel. Maybe it would be better if you stayed away from me."  
  
Julian rocked back from her a bit. "You're leaving? Why are you going to let him force you from your home and friends?" She looked up at him, "look,  he's already threatened Thane. He and whoever that other guy is on here hurt one of The Consortium's people already. I don't want him to find out who you are and hurt you and Etarn."  
  
"Sara,  just who is this guy? Why would he be after you like this? Why would he threaten your friends?"  
  
"His name is Harry. He's my husband ...well, ex - husband. He feels he owns me and everything that I have. Why he is still after me like this when it's been over a year since The Consortium helped me, I don't know. He made sure that my old friends didn't come around,  didn't call or talk to me. Slowly they stopped trying,  when I tried to get them to help they turned me away as did the police back on Earth. See, Harry has always been able to talk his way out of trouble. He twists things to put himself in the more suitable light of the situation. Making up believable stories about how my injuries were because of "clumsiness". The police believed him,  after all it was easier just to write up that report and close the case then actually do the investigating into it.

Because he would drag me all over the county and use the free clinics to get medical aid, when the injuries were severe enough, he would give them false names. There was no record of my real name being on any hospital records. After a while the police would only respond with warnings to me about filing false reports. Finally I had enough and actually listened to the last doctor I had seen. She was the one that gave me the contact chit for the group. I talked to one of their representatives who gave me an emergency contact chit and instructions. When it happened again I used the chit, they came and fixed my broken ribs, got me out of there and somewhere we thought was safe. Set up the employment with Thane and my business classes. They are even the ones that paid for those safety courses and training with Etarn."  
  
He sat listening to her story,  his hands clasped together. How could he have not seen it? The flinching when a male would get too close, the way she was so nervous earlier when they were walking together,  the way she would try to move slightly away from him as if to show anyone watching that they weren't together. Always careful of not so much as brushing against him. That was why she had turned him down, she was afraid for him.  
  
He studied her face,  her eyes were wider then normal and she was so pale. "That's why you turned me down? You were afraid he would find out and come after me? Not because I'm a turian?" Her face took on a pinkish hue and she looked down again.

"Honestly, I don't want you to leave the Citadel. I want the chance for you to say yes when I ask you out again. You left that bastard so you could have a life, right?" When she nodded he said, "then don't let this stop you. Now that I know what is going on I can be ready; I can help. I know that Etarn doesn't want you to leave,  he likes you." She gave him a smile, "I like him too."  
  
He grinned at her,  his mandibles spread wide, "I better get out of here before he finds me in here and starts planning our bonding." He let out a huff and stood up muttering, "knowing him,  he probably already has."  
  
Julian turned the corner going back into the living room and gave a startled jump as Etarn popped out of the kitchen, "is she alright? Do you think she'll stay?"  
  
"Damn it, Uncle. I think she'll stay, and stop listening in on private conversations." Julian headed for the couch and heard Etarn muttering as he passed by heading for his own room, "a spring bonding would work nicely. The flowers will be in bloom."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. My writer's block is still in full force. I think my muse has hung a sign up saying, "On vacation."
> 
> I am trying to write a little something on at least one of my stories daily hoping I can get a chapter out on the others soon, but it's a real grind. My thoughts are scattered and jumbled up with Thane, Kolyat, Feron, Fenris and Zevran and I can't seem to sort out the stories or plot bunnies that belong to which character(s).

* * *

 

 

When Sara awoke the next morning it took a few seconds to remember where she was,  a few more to remember exactly why she was here. She laid in the bed for several minutes thinking. _Why wouldn't Harry just leave her be_. She has been gone over a year, she wanted nothing to do with him, why couldn't he just go find some other woman to dupe into marrying him. Then she frowned. _No, I shouldn't wish that horror on any other person ever. He just needs to go away._  
  
She got up and dressed then quietly made her way out to Etarn's kitchen to make tea. She heard a strange wheezing, whistling noise and tiptoed into the living room. Julian was asleep on the couch. His feet hanging off one arm and his head propped up on the other one so his fringe wouldn't get damaged. The noise was coming from him. She watched as his nose wiggled on an inhale whistle,  and his mandibles fluttered on the wheezing exhale. He was snoring. She grinned and tiptoed back out.  
  
Her tea had just finished brewing when Etarn came in, yawning. "Good morning,  my dear. Did you sleep well? Mordin warned us about possible nightmares." He took down a canister of what he had told her the last time she stayed here was called Kava and it was the turian version of coffee. The smell of it brewing must have woke Julian because he came stumbling in just as the brewer clicked off. He mumbled out something that sounded like a good morning before grabbing a cup of it and wandering back into the living room.  
  
"Don't mind him, Sara. He's always that way when he first wakes up."  
  
Twenty minutes later a vid call came in. "Hello, Vega. It is very early for a call. What is going on?" Etarn blew on his second steaming cup of the kava as he waited for the human to answer him. "Just thought I should tell you. Shepard authorized the Alpha protection squad. They will be coming in later today. Shepard also is insisting on Sara coming in. I will be there in an hour with some food for her, didn't think you kept levo stuff at your place. At least nothing but a few ration bars for emergency." They watched as Vega crossed his huge bulging arms on his chest. "We are also finding it difficult to find her a safe house close to the store. Most of the places have been filled over the last year. Others are having their units being upgraded and can't be lived in right now." He gave a shrug. "The boss will figure it out. He always does." Vega waved at them and then signed off.

 

* * *

  
  
A little over an hour later Vega had brought her a small bag with some of her belongings in it, his face was flaming red as he handed it to her. "Had to pack it myself, Sara. Sorry for going through your stuff."  
  
"My stu... oh...",  Sara's face almost matched the redness of Vega's when she realized her must have found out her secret. "Thanks." Sara mumbled to him as she sped off toward the spare room. After they ate Vega started to escort Sara toward the door when they were stopped by Julian.  
  
"Where are you taking her? What is going on?" Julian came to stand in front of Vega, looming over him from his greater height. Vega didn't back away from the turian. "She needs to go see the boss, then we need to get her to a safe place. You need to move. Now."  
  
"Julian, get out of the way. The sooner they meet up with Shepard, the sooner he can start working on her safety." Etarn came out from the kitchen walking toward where Julian was now blocking the exit. He stared down at the hulking human. "I'm going with them. I'm not letting her out of my sight until I get answers." Vega stared at the large turian, "can't do that unless the boss says it's okay. You gotta understand,  amigo. This isn't like going to your boss's office. There are too many people depending on our services. Too many people who depend on it remaining secret or not easy to find. Those that need us,  well they are told how to get in contact. But just letting anyone in there, especially C-Sec, that makes our clients twitchy. Too many are people that have ran from relationships with people that work there, never had the reports looked at because their husbands or wives were friends with the officers taking the reports or handling their cases, so no ... you ain't coming with us. I'll bring her back here when we're done."  
  
Julian looked like he was going to argue until Sara put her hand on his carapace. "It's alright,  Julian. I'll be safe with Vega and will be back soon." She started to take her hand away when he covered it with his own. "If you need anything just give me a call. I'll be here waiting."  He didn't see the grin or the maniacal gleam in Etarn's eyes.

 

* * *

  
  
"Right this way, Sara." Vega opened the door into a small office in one of the Presidium buildings. There were several workers sitting at desks talking on the phones or working on terminals. None of them glanced up as they walked past. He stopped at an unmarked door and knocked three times before opening it. The man that Sara had seen when she first was rescued by The Consortium was seated behind the desk. He put the datapad he was holding down and stood,  holding out his hand to her.  
  
"Welcome, Sara. I am pleased to meet you, although I wish it was under better circumstances. Please have a seat. We need to talk a bit." Once they were seated he started up a program on his terminal. "How are you feeling? Still shaken from that attack last night? Mordin sent me a report as did Thane and Vega so I have a pretty good idea of what happened."  
  
"I'm still a bit frightened. I don't know how he found me or why he just won't leave me alone though." Sara started to twist her hands together. Shepard noted it and frowned. "I don't understand it either, Sara. It's one of the reasons I asked you to come in. We need to try and figure this out before things escalate even further. Now I am going to be asking you some questions,  some of which may get a bit ... personal. Is that alright?" Shepard looked over at her,  his piercing blue eyes staring into her own waiting for her to give him an answer.  
  
"Alright. I want to get him out of my life so I can get back to work again. Thane won't let me come in until you say it's ok." Sara gave him a half hearted grimace and he smiled at her.  
  
"The first thing I need to ask is if you know of any criminal connections Harry may have. It has taken time and a lot of credits for something like this to have happened." Shepard started typing on his holo keypad while Sara shook her head. "Not that I know of. He never said anything about what he did outside of the apartment. He gave me a specific amount of credits for purchasing food. If I needed to replace an article of clothing ... well, afterward he would look on the extranet and buy it from the shop. The bills were handled by him as was everything else."  
  
"He had to have told you something before he married you." Shepard looked up and searched her face. "Well,  when we first met he was working for my father. My family owned a small factory that made computer chips. Nothing high end. Just the basic ones, used in most of the common appliances and computers,  that sort of thing. He had been hired in the design department after the other guy retired. We weren't rich or anything. Comfortable,  I guess you could say. And I wouldn't have inherited the business as it was jointly owned with my Uncle. With him having controlling interest." Shepard was typing away and moving screens around, nodding once in a while as he verified what she was saying.  
  
"Alright. We have been trying to gain access to some information we found on him to try and track what he has been doing since you left. He sold the apartment,  so that was why we couldn't monitor his communications. He closed out the bank accounts we knew of and for all intent and purpose disappeared. Then showed back up all of a sudden."  
  
He pulled up one screen and flipped it so she could see it. "This was the surveillance photo Thane sent me of the man you had seen standing outside of the store, right."  
  
She leaned closer and nodded, "yes, that's him." He pulled up a file and showed it to her. "The man's name is Thomas Martin. About two years ago he worked at a small clinic on Earth. You may recognize the name, Leighton's Free Clinic, he upped and quit about 9 months ago and he too disappeared. Until you spotted him. Mr. Martin, however,  isn't as good with hiding his paper trails as Harry is. He applied to a small clinic on the Wards. His bank account showed several hefty deposits starting a month or so afterward. I think we found the person leaking information, not only on you but on at least one other female. One that we have moved off of the Citadel. She hadn't been attacked or noticed anything out of the ordinary but didn't want to risk it."  
  
He picked up several datapads off to the side. "We can offer you another relocation. Anywhere on one of these datapads. Or if you want to stay,  we can do our best to protect you and stop this from getting worse. Since I have been told you have formed a ... relationship with someone here I didn't want to just up and take you away."  
  
Sara's face flamed red and she looked down in her lap. "Anyway, Sara. You can look over these if you want. But I have some more questions for you." She nodded and he asked her several more,  some of them making her fidget. She was adamant that she had no contact with her ex and Shepard believed her. "Alright. One more thing. The locket. I told you we never let anyone take anything with them. I let you take that locket and it had been scanned. But that is the only thing I can think of that is a connection with your old life. I would like for you to leave it with me and I can have some people go over it. Legion scanned it looking for tracers,  but it's possible there is something else there that he overlooked."  
  
Sara hesitated but took off the locket and placed it on the desk in front of her. Shepard picked it up and placed it in a metal box and set it to the side. "Now, as Vega probably already told you, we haven't been able to locate a suitable housing unit for you. Vega has packed up all your belongings and they have been scanned and stored in a safe facility. Etarn isn't set up for long term guests. We will keep trying to find another apartment that meets our requirements, in the meantime if you have someone else you can stay with,  I would recommend you go there. At least for a few nights. Thane has no spare room, if he did he would have been my first choice as only a true idiot would try and break into his place and expect to get out in one piece." He shifted in his chair and tilted it backward, Sara thought he would tip it over with how far back he went.  
  
"The Alpha squad arrived earlier this morning and are already in place. They will move in only if you get into trouble, otherwise they won't be seen. Try not to go to too many places that are really crowded over the next few days. The larger the crowd the harder it will be for them to keep an eye on you. Have someone escort you if possible." He shifted again and the chair sprang back up and he huffed out as he bounced forward causing a slight giggle to erupt from Sara. He grinned and stood up signaling to Vega. "Well,  that's all for now. We will keep in contact. Let Vega know if you decide that you want to move or if you find another place to stay in the meantime."  
  
They shook again and Shepard waited until Vega escorted her out before turning back to his terminal. He was missing something, somewhere there was a clue as to why this bastard wouldn't let her go. A slight buzz sounded and he reached over and pressed a button. "Yeah?"  
  
"Sir, sorry to bother you,  but Alpha squad leader is here. He wants to see you." A female's disembodied voice came over the speaker. "Send him in."  
  
He didn't bother looking up as the person entered and dropped down into the chair that Sara had recently vacated and propped his three toed, armor encased feet up on Shepard's desk. "The crew is in place, no one reports anything. I'll be setting up a sniper perch across from Etarn's place after I leave here. So what is going on here?"  
  
"I don't know, Garrus. But this is not making a whole lot of sense right now. She isn't rich, isn't famous. She is happy working in Thane's store surrounded by those damn books of his all day long. She is mediocre at best at martial arts and from what Etarn said isn't doing all that great in the firearms courses. He does insist she will get better now that he is actively pushing his nephew off on her. That damn turian is determined to see his nephew get bonded. She is a nice lady. No criminal background, she is clean,  squeaky clean to be honest. We tracked her clinic visits, and there were quite a few at different locations,  just as she had said when she first contacted us. Nothing she has told us has sent up any red flags."  
  
Garrus's mandibles fluttered then pulled in, "but something is keeping this bastard coming after her." Shepard nodded and tossed him the box containing the locket. "I let her bring this when she fled. She told me it was an heirloom. Legion scanned it, no tracers. But it is the only thing linking her to her old life. See what you can dig up." Garrus huffed and turned the small box over in his hands then stood up. "I'll get started on it right away. I'll send daily reports on the situation and her activities."  
  


* * *

  
  
When Sara arrived back at the apartment Julian was waiting for her,  he questioned her and made sure nothing happened to her. She assured him she was fine then sat down at the small dining table, pulling out the stack of data pads. "What are those?" Julian asked as he sat across from her. She chewed her lip before looking up at him. "Relocation data pads. If I have to leave the Citadel these are the places they can send me. They can't find me a place to live here yet. And other than here and Thane's I have no where else to go. I can't stay here,  Etarn needs the room for incoming emergencies and Thane hasn't a spare room."  
  
"You said you weren't leaving the Citadel." Julian thunked his mug back on the table and looked at her. "I don't want to leave. But what else can I do?" He sighed and looked at her. Had just picked up his mug and took a drink of kava when his Uncle came up behind him and said, "Julian has a spare room. You can live with him."  
  
Sara sat there and wiped at the kava that had hit her in face when Julian sprayed it. After whacking his nephew in the head he hurried to get her a cloth to clean up with.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy. I finished this up and posted it at around 4am my time, so please excuse any errors. If you spot something that needs fixing just let me know.

* * *

 

 

Sara wiped her face with the cloth as Julian stood up grabbing Etarn by the arm and dragged him into the bathroom off the living room area. "What the hell are you doing, Uncle?"  
  
"She needs a safe place. You are a C-Sec officer and you don't live that far from where the book store is. You can make sure she gets there and back safely, gets to the firing range for practice. You can help to keep her safe.  Better than being left in a different apartment alone with that mad man still on the loose." Etarn hissed at him.  
  
Julian crossed his arms and leaned against the sink, his eyes narrowing slightly at his Uncle. He still didn't buy it that only Sara's safety was Etarn's motivation in trying to get Sara to move in with him.  
  
"Maybe when that bastard sees Sara under C-Sec protection he will back off." Etarn started to fidget under Julian's constant gaze. "What makes you think she would like being in that same small apartment with me? You know how I am. I couldn't even stand having one of the other officers staying at my place for the 2 days of orientation let alone having a female living in my place for Spirits know how long."  
  
"Oh for Spirits sake,  stop bitching. You know you like her and this is a great opportunity. She will be where you can get to know her without anyone bothering you. You two can talk and really get to know each other. Spend more time together." Etarn stood up straight and crossed his own arms. "This will be a good thing." He pushed away from the wall and took the three steps toward the door and just as it opened he hissed out. "I'll kick your ass if you hurt her."  
  


* * *

  
  
Sara came out of the small second bedroom after changing her clothing and saw both of them sitting at the table drinking beers. "Sara,  come have a seat and hear what we have to say. Then we'll all talk." Etarn called out when he spotted her. She nodded and got a bottle of water from the cooler and sat down with them.  
  
"We know that The Consortium is having a hard time placing you in another apartment, Julian has a small guest room. It is near to the range so it's not that far from the book store. Now we were thinking..." he gave a small jump as Julian kicked him under the table. "I thought that having a visible C-Sec officer escorting you back and forth to work and to the range would give your ex - husband pause. And it will be less likely for him to try and break in as well. You will have Julian and the Protection squad nearby for a while so you should be safe. Also Shepard called me while you were in your room, he wanted to remind you to not go anywhere without an escort anyway, and Julian is able to be armed so he is a perfect fit." He took a drink of his beer and his mandibles waved around. "Though I should warn you, not only is he a grump in the morning he has a bad habit of walking around naked or half dressed and is still half asleep usually. It takes several cups of kava to fully wake him up." Etarn let out a hiss as he rubbed his leg where Julian just kicked him hard again. "Damn it Julian,  stop kicking me. I'm an old man and you are liable to break my bones like that."  
  
Julian only grunted and stared at him as he finished off his beer. "Look,  I know it's not the best solution, but maybe it will give them time to find you a new place and keep that bastard off of you until I can do some digging and find out how he got on to the station without this Consortium group knowing about it. Everyone here legally had to go through the Citadel security and dock system. There should be a record somewhere. And if he got on board illegally I need to know about it so that I can pass on the information to others to seal up that hole."  
  
He put the bottle in the trash before getting another and sitting back down with them. "I just thought of something. The big case I'm working on has gang members blowing up certain buildings, somehow they are able to get large amounts of weapons and explosives onto the Citadel without setting off any alarms in the system. They may be connected somehow."  
  
Sara paled at hearing that her ex may be connected gangs let alone ones that were blowing things up and smuggling. She had never really thought about where the money for the apartment,  food and other necessities had come from. She had been too afraid to ask.  
  
That evening they sent out a message to Shepard giving him the details. She could have sworn she noticed a smirking glance shot toward Etarn before Shepard acknowledged them and noted everything. He told her that the protection squad had been notified and they hadn't reported anything out of the ordinary but will be on guard. Julian left a few hours later telling them that he had to get back to his place and make it ready for her to stay there. Etarn let out a snort,  knowing more likely that Julian was needing to clean up his mess and hide the porn magazines somewhere than anything else. He knew his nephew, he also realized that it was going to be hard on both of them to live together. He hoped that with the time they could be spending together and the close confines of the apartment that they would get closer and then he could send in the notice to finally proceed with the rest of the bonding arrangements that he had told his priest to prepare for.  
  


* * *

  
  
Julian spent the next two days cleaning the apartment and packing up the magazines he usually left laying around into a box and stashing it in the assigned storage space in the basement of the building. At one point nostalgia took over and he pulled out a large box from the room and opened it. Inside was several items that his parents had insisted he bring with him when he left for the Citadel after his duty to the Turian Military was over and he decided not to re-enlist. The wedding garb that was passed down from his parents when they were married,  the books containing holos of his family and several letters that had been tucked inside from his mother. She had known his uncle would try to get him bonded quickly and had written advice to him on those precious paper pages that he had barely glanced at before sticking into the book. Now as he sat on that cold flooring going through the boxes he wondered what his parents would think if they knew he was interested in a human.  
  
He tapped the pages on his leg as he thought about it,  both of his parents had been in the Relay 314 Incident and from what Etarn had told him it had changed them both. He didn't think they would have an issue with a human, if it was one he truly cared about. Having her as a girlfriend or an occasional lover would be one thing,  but as a bonded mate it would be different. He was interested in her without a doubt and he knew she was interested in him,  at least a little at this point. Still afraid of anything happening to him to take it further but... bonding? That was permanent in his culture. The way the humans talked their marriage was anything but that.  
  
He gave a sigh and placed the letters back into the book,  more carefully this time than he had when he was first given them and stood up making his way back to his apartment. He continued cleaning and stood staring at the small bed in the guest bedroom that would soon be occupied by Sara. His thoughts took a different path at some point and his groin plates started to shift at the images that were coming to him the longer he stood there. He shook his head trying to clear it of those thoughts and moved out of the room, making sure the door was firmly closed behind him.  
  


* * *

  
  
She sat on the couch and chewed the side of her thumb as she waited for Julian to get off of work. That night was when they had decided that she was to go to his place and had notified Vega who sent out the warning to the others. She hadn't left Etarn's apartment for the last three days and was nervous about leaving there now, let alone going to live with Julian. Even if it was only for a short time.  
  
Her mind was in chaos,  images of what could happen to Julian or her or even them both when her ex found out about her living with him flashed in her mind. No matter if it was platonic. The threats he had made against Thane were bad enough and that was when she only worked for an alien. Living with one will bring even worse ones. She had almost talked herself into calling Shepard and telling them that she had changed her mind and wanted to be spirited away to another planet when Julian came through the doors.  
  
He took one look at her face and pulled her toward the small bedroom,  out of earshot of his uncle. "What's wrong? What happened? Did he try to get to you again? Why wasn't I called?" He had a hold on her shoulders and was looking down into her face trying to discern what had happened to her in the few hours that he had been at work after speaking with her just that morning.  
  
"No, nothing like that,  Julian. It's just... if he finds out I am living with you he is going to be angry and he might come after you. I don't want you hurt because of me. This is a bad idea,  I should just leave. Go somewhere where he won't find me. Get a brand new identity... there has to be somewhere I can blend in and no one would know who I am."  
  
He let out a small sigh of relief before he gave a huff of exasperation. "Sara, I'm not a helpless civilian. I am a trained military specialist and C-Sec officer. Believe me when I say that now that I know about this bastard, the more prepared I am in case of a confrontation. The only thing that I am concerned with is when you are at the apartment alone or not with one of us. I don't know who this protection squad is that is supposed to be looking out for you when I can't and I am not able to fully trust them without knowing just who the hell they are and what training they have had. For all I know they are just some bums off the street that this Shepard person gave a few credits to watch the door and let him know if anyone comes in and out." He hesitated a few seconds before bringing his hand up to stroke along her head,  his gloved talons running along her hair. "Trust me to keep you safe. I have a vested interest in doing so. One that hopefully some day we can explore and see just where it takes us."  
  
Sara's face turned red and she felt the heat in her cheeks as she looked up into his amber eyes. She swallowed and watched as his mandibles fluttered and he bent toward her. At first she thought he was going to kiss her and she wet her lips in anticipation. But her eyes became clouded with confusion when he gently pressed his forehead to hers before drawing away again. His own eyes searched hers and she gave him a slight smile that he returned with a flutter of his mandibles, his head was starting to lower toward hers again when the door opened and Etarn came barging in on them.  
  
"Hey you two,  I just got a call from Vega. He wanted to let you know that the way was clear and there were guards along the assigned route to your apartment. Vega said that he had sent over several containers of your clothing and what he thought you would need from what they had stored at the bookstore. If you need to go pick up anything else just let him know and he will send someone over to take you there. If it is something that wasn't packed they will take you to the storage facility and help get what you need from it." His eyes were shifting from Sara's red face to Julian's closed off one, his mandibles were tight to his face and he was suppressing his subharmonics.  
  
It took a few seconds for Etarn to understand he had interrupted them and almost cursed to himself about not thinking they could be up to something in the bedroom and just came in to give them the news. "I'll just be waiting out in the living room ... uh, when you are done doing ...whatever it was you were doing in this bedroom. Just come tell me that you are done and ready to leave. Not what it was you were doing... I don't want to hear about that." Etarn backed up a few steps then hurried out of the room,  his mandibles spread in a huge grin the second he turned his back to them.  
  
"That bastard is probably out there dancing around thinking we were up to something dirty in here." Julian crossed his arms and stared at the door. He gave her a glance when he heard her giggle. A smile spreading his mandibles again and he gave a small laugh. "Come on, better go bust his bubble now before he thinks he is going to be waiting for a while and does something like order take out." She laughed again,  once more he showed that he had taken the time to learn human euphemisms from his co-workers.  
  
Julian cleared his throat to get Etarn's attention as he was talking rapidly to someone on his omnitool and watched as the older turian hurriedly closed the tool up and guiltily hid it behind his back after turning toward his nephew. "We're ready to go now, Uncle."  
  
Etarn cleared his throat and tried to bring his overactive subharmonics under control. Julian shook his head at what was coming from his uncle. The sheer glee at what he thought had been going on and the guilt about interrupting them. "Yes,  of course. Just let me send out a notice then we can go." He turned back and quickly typed out a couple of messages then hurried to the door. When the approval came through he rushed them all outside to the waiting skycar that was sent for them and they were quickly whisked away to Julian's apartment.  
  


* * *

  
  
Julian hurried her up the steps of older building, finding several crates stacked neatly beside his door. He glanced around before swiping his omnitool across the sensor and rushing her through, a minute later he came back out and started to bring in her crates before securing the door for the night.  
  
Once they had them all stacked in a corner of her room for unpacking later they sat as his small kitchen table. "Well,  I guess this is home sweet home for you for a while. I know it isn't much but it's in a good location and pretty secure. I do have nosy neighbors though, so be prepared for them to ask you all kinds of questions when they find out you're living here with me. It can also be a good thing as the older people on this floor notice everything out of the ordinary." He cleared his throat then sent her the door code. "Here, so you can go out and do what you need to do when I can't go with you. Just be careful."  
  
He sat tapping his talons on the table for a few minutes before clearing his throat again. "So we need to go out tomorrow as I really didn't know what kind of food you needed. I tried to see what the humans at work ate but most of them either didn't stick around to eat at the station or they just grabbed something from the dispensary. I didn't think you wanted prepackaged, three day old sandwiches so I didn't buy any to bring here for you."  
  
She grimaced and he let out a laugh. "Thanks for that." He tapped nervously again then stood up. "Well guess I should show you where everything is."  
  
After the short tour consisting of the bathroom, his room and the living room they sat down and flipped through several channels on the Citadel's network before settling on an old comedy rerun from a few years ago. After it was finished he ordered delivery service and they watched something else before he told her good night and headed for his room.  
  


* * *

  
  
The next morning they headed out for the market nearby and was stopped several times by the building's residents. Julian constantly had to introduce her and they patiently answered what questions they could, skirting the ones they couldn't. A few gave them odd looks since it was highly unusual to have a turian human couple that didn't hide their relationship. Many of the older turians still didn't care much for humans and the huffs and subharmonics let Julian know they didn't care for the human being there. Julian on the other hand didn't bother just using his subharmonics to give them a scathing answer but did so in a way that Sara heard what he told them.  
  
They finally made it out of the building and Julian gave a huff. Sara looked up at him, "there seemed to be an inordinately large amount of older residents in that building."  
  
"Yeah,  the apartment was originally my dad's when he worked here for C-Sec. That was before he met mom and they bonded and moved to Palaven." He looked around carefully, trying to spot the ones that were supposed to be keeping an eye on Sara but didn't see anyone suspicious. He let out a turian snort and thought that it was just another ruse,  that there was no one there to watch for that bastard.  
  
They walked to the market area and started going through the stalls, picking out several varieties of fruits and vegetables for both of them then he led her to a small store that had the regular groceries and meats. He followed her through the levo section asking what the things were she picked out while watching for anyone paying more attention to them than what was strictly necessary. After they were done they headed home, once again he didn't see anyone hanging around and his mandibles pulled in tight to his face.  
  


* * *

  
  
Garrus gave a slight laugh as he watched the couple through the rifle scope. He could tell the turian was looking to see if he could spot one of his group. But Garrus was confident about his team's abilities. His people were all handpicked and were the best,  only called in for these details when Shepard needed the absolute best. His eyes flicked up from the view through the scope reading the message that had just popped up on his visor. He gave a grunt then opened a comm channel.  
  
"Vakarian here. Where did you spot him?" He listened to the answer from his team member he had sent to watch the clinic. "Understood. Follow him,  if he meets with the target inform me immediately. Make sure to use that new app that was sent from Tali and record the evidence. Vakarian out." He settled back down and peered through his scope again, rapidly finding the couple as they stood in the market and shopped. He grinned as he noticed the way they looked at each other and the way the male was being protective of his mate. It was good to see the way their people were finally starting to come to accept each other, at least the younger generations were.

 

* * *

  
  
Julian walked with Sara from the transit stop toward the bookstore.  Once again trying to spot anyone acting suspicious but not seeing anyone, other than an older asari sitting serenely with a book open in front of her, under the tree across from the store. Once inside he made sure that Thane was there before he left her to go to work,  making her promise to wait there for him. He paused for a few seconds, staring down into her face before squeezing the hand he had been holding and left.  
  
The day had passed slowly, with only a few customers coming in. The asari that had been outside came in once to buy a different book from the glassed in room before leaving, smiling at Sara and wishing her a lovely day.  
  
Thane was once again inside the room cataloging new acquisitions and she opened the terminal's extranet browser and tried to do research on turian culture. More specific, what Julian had meant when he touched foreheads instead of kissing her. She was chewing on her thumb again when Thane's voice came from behind her and caused her to jump and let out a quiet scream. He smirked when he read what was on the screen. "Doing research?"  
  
She covered her eyes and leaned on the counter. "This is so embarrassing." He only laughed at her before heading to the front window to look outside.  
  
"I suggest you close the browser as Julian is heading this way now. That is unless you don't mind him seeing you researching turian mating and courtship topics." He laughed again as he spotted her reflection in the window hurriedly clicking the tabs closing them as quickly as she could.

 

* * *

  
  
She was at work when Julian sent her a message telling her he wouldn't be able to come to pick her up from the store. There had been another incident on a different ward and he had been sent out to investigate it along with several other officers. Thane had turned on the Citadel's news network and they watched as the news caster told them of an explosion on the Shalta ward at a multi cultural worship facility. The death count was listed at close to one hundred. They watched in horror as the camera showed the destruction of the building,  of the many covered bodies and grieving people behind the barriers that C-Sec had put up.  
  
He had yet to come back the apartment and it had already been almost two full Citadel days. She was becoming worried and sent him a small text message. It was almost an hour later when a short reply came back. He didn't know when he would be able to come home. He, along with the others assigned to the case, was staying at the station using the small bunk room and showers there. At least until they could figure out if it was the same group that had done this. He apologized for not sending her a message sooner he was still getting used to the idea of having to tell someone when or if he would be home or not. She told him not to worry about it,  that Thane would take her back to the apartment and she told him to stay safe before signing out of her message service.  
  
She locked up the apartment for the night and fell into bed,  she had to get up early to head for another training day with Thane and wanted to be well rested. She was getting better at the defense and he had started to get tougher with her. She fell asleep hoping that Julian would come back soon,  she felt safer with him in the next room and missed the snoring sounds coming from the partially opened door in the mornings when she passed by the room heading to the bathroom.  
  
Julian was dead tired. He didn't sleep well in that bunk room surrounded by the others all making noises and they all had the same funny smell that was the combined scent of the cheap cleanser and odor from the chemicals that they were working around at the site of the explosion. He stumbled into the apartment,  barely remembering to set the alarm and headed for the bathroom desperate for a shower then to get into his own bed and sleep for the next several days.  
  
He had completely forgotten in his sleep deprived state that he no longer lived alone and had started to strip his clothes off letting them drop on the floor. His eyes fuzzy and his mouth tore open in a wide yawn when he entered the bathroom. Finally registering the sound of the shower already running and then the sound of a female's startled gasp as he hit the button lowering the barrier instead of raising it up. He stood there staring at Sara's naked body as the water continued to pour over her.  
  
The shock wore off them both and she yelled at him to get out at the same time he apologized,  hitting the button again and rushing out of the bathroom,  his other hand had dropped in front of him where his plates had started to soften and shift as he stood there staring.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I use the work kihi, in this chapter. It is a Maori word. Meaning kiss. I use it to signify the pressing of turian's crests, the turian's kiss.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter. 
> 
> Early warning. I have the next chapter finished just need to clean it up a little. It is a filler chapter that contains some background on how The Consortium started, and it contains abuse and other triggers. I will post those warnings in the notes section. If any of it should be triggers for you please pass that chapter up, should be posted a bit later in the day, tomorrow at the latest.

* * *

 

 

Julian was sitting at the kitchen table wearing a set of C-Sec workout clothes. The uniform he had quickly picked up and dumped in a pile in his room. The adrenaline, among other things, he had experienced when he had walked into the bathroom and saw Sara was still coursing through his body,  leaving him wide awake. He heard her leaving her bedroom and stood up, ready to apology to her again. The image of her naked with water running over her body had yet to fade from his mind and he had to fight to keep his plates closed.  
  
"Sara,  I am so sorry. I was so tired and I swear to you I didn't know you were in there." Julian had started to wring his fingers together, his mandibles flicking and fluttering in shame and agitation. She crossed her arms under her breasts and looked down at his three toed feet and nodded. Her cheeks were flaming red,  she could still remember what he had looked like when he startled her by lowering the barrier.  
  
"I ... I'll understand if you want leave. It's been a little while now. Maybe they will have found you a place?" Julian asked her as he gripped the back of the kitchen chair. She quickly glanced up at him and looked back down. "Only if you want me to go. I feel safer here with you than I have since that first email showed up."  
  
He moved over to in front of her and she glanced up. "I want you to stay, Sara. I know I haven't exactly been the best roommate or ... or boyfriend to you lately."  
  
"I know I messed up, I can only give you an explanation. I haven't slept in days Sara and I was so tired. I completely forgot you were here. It's a wonder I even found my way home this morning. I'm still getting use to another person living with me. You're the only one that I have tolerated for more than 2 days." He gave a laugh. "By the end of orientation I usually throw them out or they have their bags packed and waiting at the front door." She gave a slight smile and a low laugh.  
  
"Are we alright? Still ...partners?" He asked her softly, his subharmonics sounded the worry loudly in the room. He knew she wouldn't hear it, and waited.  
  
She chewed her lip and gave a slight nod. He was wondering why she hadn't said anything more to him. He noticed the way her face had yet to go back to her normal coloring. "What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?"  
  
She glanced up and her cheeks went even redder. His nose wiggled as he caught her scent. It was faint but there was an underlying sweet scent that he usually only caught when he had initiated the kihi. "Sara?" Her eyes dropped from his to his mouth.  
  
"Nothing's wrong. I have to go now,  Thane's expecting me. I can go to the store on my own. You should get some sleep." She backed up and turned quickly moving to the door and grabbing her bag before rushing out. He stood there staring at the door for several minutes wondering what that had been about, then sent a message to Thane asking him to let him know when she got there.

 

* * *

  
***~* A week later *~***  
  
Julian was sitting at the table before going to work, looking at the Citadel news and drinking a cup of kava when Sara came through the door. She limped her way to her room with Julian right behind her as he asked what happened,  if she had been attacked.  
  
"No, Julian. Thane has kicked up the training a bit and I'm kinda hurting from the impacts against his body. I didn't think it would hurt this much. It was like I was beating on a damn rock." She groaned as she dropped the bag taking several steps to the end of her bed and collapsing face first.  
  
"Drells have bodies that are denser than you humans. Let me call a doctor." He took a hesitant step in her room and heard her snort. "No. Just grab one of the small paper packages from the box marked BW painkiller from my top drawer if you want to help." She rolled over as she heard the drawer open then close. She grimaced as she dumped the powder on her tongue and closed her eyes. "I need to get to work soon,  are you going to be alright here?" She gave a slight nod.  
  
"I have tomorrow off, the full day at that. I was thinking,  maybe we can go out to grab something to eat?" He stood by her bed watching as she placed her forearm across her eyes.  
  
She sighed, "I have to work in the morning. I ... I don't know if going out is a good idea."  
  
He gave a huff and let out several clicks. "I don't think you should hide away like this and not do things you want to do because of him. I will be there and we don't have to go far. Maybe that new place on the ward near the bookstore,  or there is that place a few minutes from here."  
  
She met his eyes and saw his mandibles draw close to his face. It was the same look he gave his uncle when he wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Alright, maybe we can go to that one small place near the shop."  


* * *

  
  
Julian was sitting at his desk going over the preliminary reports when he glanced up and yelled out to one of his human friends, "Frank, come here for a minute." The human grabbed a cup from the dispensary in the hall and walked into the small office.  
  
"What's up,  Julian?" The guy plopped in the chair and started drinking the stuff that passed for human coffee.  
  
Julian glanced up and looked around before going and closing the door. "I have something I want to ask you. It's personal."  
  
The man let out a laugh, "what, again with the human dating stuff? So who is this woman? Am I ever going to meet her? Does she even exist or is this purely out of curiosity?" Julian shoved him on the way back to his seat almost causing Frank to spill the contents of his cup.  
  
"She exists. Listen something happened a bit ago." Frank started to grin at him, "was it any good? How did you like it, better than being with a turian woman? She must not have liked it much or maybe you did it wrong if she didn't want to hang all over you after it."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about? Frank, look I need to know what it means when a human woman turns red and drops her eyes from yours and stares at your mouth plates. Was she trying to see if I clean my teeth? Check to see if my breath smelled strange?"  
  
Frank let out a laugh. "Shit man,  don't you turian people kiss?" Frank started laughing when Julian asked what a kiss was. "Shit sakes, Julian,  I am not going to discuss this crap with you. Rent some fucking human porn,  man."  
  
"I can't do that,  she lives there too and I don't think she would appreciate me sitting in the living room watching porn." Frank stared at him with the cup halfway to his mouth, "you live with her and you don't know what the hell a kiss is? What the hell is wrong with you, man? By now you should know what the hell a kiss is or you are definitely doing something wrong." Frank gave another laugh before downing the last of the pseudo coffee in his cup,  tossing it in the can beside Julian's desk. "Look, download some porn to your omni, lock your damn bedroom door if she's there or just wait until she isn't around and watch it." He stood up and waved to Julian as he walked out the door.  
  
Julian sat there for a while longer before turning his attention back to the reports of the latest bombing.  


* * *

  
  
Sara jumped and dropped the datapad she had been holding for the third time that day when Thane finally had enough and pulled her into the small stockroom slash office he had. "Sara, what is it? Has something happened? You know you can tell me if someone or something is bothering you."  
  
Sara jerked and stood staring at him. "No, it's nothing, Thane. Just having a clumsy day." She turned away from him before he could ask anything more and glanced at the holo-clock on the wall.  
  
"Hmm, you have also been watching the clock all day. Is there some reason?" His voice changed subtly, now realizing she was waiting for someone. Not just someone, Julian. He had noticed how close they were getting since she had moved into his apartment. He rarely failed to walk her either to the store or pick her up from it. Those rare occasions when he couldn't, Thane had received a message from one of the watchers letting him know she was safe. They still had yet to find either her ex husband or the one that was helping him and it worried him.  


* * *

  
  
After Sara had left that morning he sat on his bed staring at his omni tool. The adult download site was open on his browser. He gave a sigh as he had yet to even scroll down below the adult content warning. Normally he wouldn't care, he'd just pick up one of his Fornax or stream something on the tv,  but now that she was living here he had tried to become more conscience on what he did. It was bad enough the time she was doing laundry and brought in the clean bedding and almost caught him masturbating. If she had walked in any later his plates would have been fully open and there would have been no way to hide what was going on. She apologized and he told her he was sorry for forgetting to tell her that he had come home early from work due to switching with another officer.  
  
They were having their first official dinner date later that night and hoped it would lead to something more. He hadn't been used to not finding someone to blow off steam with, but Frank had warned him that most of the human women wouldn't take kindly to their partners having sex with someone else and if he was serious about her to keep it in his pants.  So here he was getting ready to look at porn in the hopes that he could get some idea about how to mate with a human. He sighed and shut the browser down. There had to be another way, he knew what they did in porn wasn't exactly usual and he didn't want to treat her as one of those women. But who else could he ask.  
  
A call came in from one of his team members letting him know that the reports from the residue they found had finally came back and would be waiting on his desk. After closing out the call he saw a tiny icon that he didn't remember at first, then the flashback of that strange salarian came to him. His talon hovered over the icon for a few seconds then pushed it.  
  
A set of neatly labeled file folders popped up. He glanced at the intercourse warning folder, his mandibles flicking at the mention of possible anaphylactic shock from ingestion of bodily fluids due to protein incompatibilities. A small notation read: _for example, if your partner is performing fellatio on you please remember to not let them swallow_. He clicked on the underlined word he didn't recognize and a small vid clip appeared, "Spirits...they really do that...but their teeth." He closed the vid clip and continued reading. He sent in the prescription for epi pens and condoms that had been attached to the folder to the chemist, continuing to read and watch the small vid clips that were available. When he finished the last entry a small holo of the salarian popped up. "Thank you for reading this informative,  interactive brochure. Remember safety for both you and your partner is paramount. If you have any questions or need more documents or instructional videos click this link." A small extranet link popped up above the tiny holographic head. "This has been a Professor Mordin Solus production. All rights reserved."  
  
He glanced at the clock noticing he had less than thirty minutes before he had to leave to go pick up Sara,  he had been sitting there all day watching those damn vids and reading up on how to have sex with his human girlfriend. But at least he now knew what a kiss was,  and a whole lot more.  


* * *

  
  
Julian walked through the door of the bookstore less than five minutes before it was to close, he practically had to run from the transit stop to there.  He had spent several extra minutes on trying to decide which of his leisure clothes to wear. Having to switch several times as the bulk of the pistol he had concealed on him kept distorting the tunic bad enough that you could tell he was armed. Finally he had to switch out for an even smaller pistol and hoped it would be enough if he needed to use it. It could only be fired 5 times and he had no place to carry extra heat sinks.  
  
"Julian,  I am glad to see you made it here on time. Sara has been in the back room for the last 15 minutes wondering if you had changed your mind or possibly have forgotten. Not to mention she has been distracted all day." Thane spoke to him as soon as the door had slid shut, stepping from behind the plant that had been shielding him from view.  
  
Julian tried not to give a startled reaction, only tensing up as the drell came a few steps closer. Those black unblinking eyes of Thane's unnerved him at times. He felt as if they could see through him and into his soul. He got the distinct feeling he wouldn't like what Thane would do to him if he hurt Sara, not that he was ever planning to,  mind you.  
  
"I didn't forget,  just running a bit later than planned. I better go let her know I'm here." Julian took several steps back from the shorter drell and hurried toward the stockroom door. When he entered he saw her sitting on the chair chewing her thumb. "Hey,  sorry I thought I was going to be late. You ready to go?"  
  
She swallowed then stood up, nervously running her hands down one of the nicer pantsuits that she had purchased before coming to the Citadel. Julian's eyes followed the path of them down her waist and over her hips, the images he saw on on the vids coming into his mind making him blink and his mandibles flicker. He heard the sound of his subharmonics and tried to put a stop to it, he didn't want Thane to hear the way he was reacting to her. "Sure. Just let me tell Thane we are leaving now."  
  
He followed her from the room,  his eyes on her ass as she walked toward the drell. She stopped to pick up the jacket on the way and it helped to hide her trim waist and the curve of her hips. He let out a breath and waited for her by the door. When they walked out her took her by the hand, leaning down to give her a kihi before starting to walk down the deck toward the restaurant. He wandered if he should have tried that kiss thing he watched. But when he was standing in front of the mirror trying to get his plates to pucker and move like the ones did on those vids it just looked strange to him. Maybe it would be better if she would show him ... maybe later that night.  
  
His thoughts turned from what it may feel like to kiss her to concentration and wariness when he noticed the two turians step into their path. Sara tried to remove her hand from his but he only gripped her tighter. "May I help you gentlemen?" Julian's voice bit out. His subharmonics starting to sound out a light growl as he heard what the others were saying, how he was a disgrace for touching one of their kind. How he must not know what to do with a turian woman if he had to settle for a pyjack or maybe he just liked doing it with animals. "Disgraceful for a turian to let one of those things touch you as a mate."  
  
"Julian. Maybe I should just go home. This wasn't such a good idea." Sara whispered as she started to get the feeling she had got from her husband before he balled his hands into fists and took out his frustrations on her. "No, Sara. It's about time for our people to get over it. It's been over thirty years now and we are all a part of this place. There is no real reason to hide the way we feel. If they don't like it then they can kiss our asses."  
  
One of the other turians let out a snort, "you even talk like one of them." The other one took several steps closer and Julian took a step in front of Sara in a protective gesture,  his hand itching to get closer to the butt of his pistol but refraining. "I work with many humans at C-Sec. Many of them are under my command. Now you are making us late, move it or I am placing you under arrest for harassment of an officer of the law. An offense that will be placed on your records and will affect any company you are currently working with or plan to ever work with. The Hierarchy also doesn't like it when one of their own is causing embarrassment for them. And you better believe I will report this. As I have already received the identification codes on both of your omni tools." When the other still didn't move Julian took another step closer, his larger height and slightly larger build than the other one was more apparent and finally they relented and backed away, not before voicing more disparaging comments about the couple.  
  
Julian waited for a minute to make sure they didn't come back before he turned toward Sara. "Are you alright?" His other hand had gently cupped her face turning it up toward him. "Yeah. Let's just go home." His gloved talon stroked along her cheek, "don't let them do this to you. It's just like your fear of your ex - husband. Don't let their stupidity stop us from being together. I'm not going to hide how I feel about you when we are out in public. I'm sure there are other couples but they are probably afraid of ones like those jackasses. I'm not and I won't be letting anyone make me feel ashamed to be attracted or mated to you." He cleared his throat ...technically they weren't mated as he had yet to ask her to be his ... they just sort of did it the human way. But it really didn't matter to him. He watched her chew her plump lower lip,  turning it a shade darker than it had been. His mandibles fluttered a bit ... _the hell with it_. He leaned down and pressed his mouth plates to her lips, her eyes went wide as they looked into his. After a few seconds he stood upright and ran a hand over his carapace, his mandibles flicked a bit.  
  
"I ... uh.  hope I did that right." He ran his hand up over his fringe before dropping it back to gather her own in his. She had yet to say anything, just stood there staring up at him. After a few false starts she finally told him he had.  
  
"Are you really going to send a report to your Hierarchy about them,  I mean they didn't really do anything." Sara asked as they continued on their way. They had garnered several strange looks and even heard what she told him was a "wolf whistle" when he had kissed her and she was still reeling from the pleasant tingling sensation she was still having on her lips and lower from that one single kiss. "No,  they were idiots but they don't deserve to have a blemish on their records. I will however make a note on their Citadel only files about the incident."  
  
They reached the door of the eatery and went in, neither one seeing the other turian that had been shadowing them from the rooftops.  
  
Garrus had seen the whole incident and had recorded it, letting out a pleased hum when he saw the way Julian protected Sara and gave a laugh at the other turians attempt at a kiss with a human. He sent the file to Shepard to note the incident and another clip was sent to Etarn,  he could have sworn he heard the other ones subharmonics shouting his joy from the other ward.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: severe abuse leading to death
> 
> I am also going to add that some of the language is rougher than normal. If anyone that reads this thinks I need more warnings please let me know. 
> 
> This is a filler chapter and it may be a short while before another chapter comes, I am trying to catch up on my other stories then concentrate on my main one to get the last several chapters of that one done. 
> 
> Thanks to those still reading the stories.

* * *

 

 

Shepard sat at his desk with a multitude of holo screens open. So many people contacting them for help. He had to pull in several more operatives from the field to go over the requests, weeding out the ones that were actually just trying to infiltrate them to find victims that they had helped. He sighed,  closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. He never thought when he had started doing this that it would expand so vast. He tipped his head back,  his thoughts going back in time so many years ago.  
  
***~***  
  
"Johnnie,  listen to your mother. You need to take your baby sister and run to your older sister's house. I need you to go now,  my little love." The croaking whisper came from where his mother was laying on the floor, blood pouring from the wound caused by the knife embedded in his mother's stomach. He had hid in the small cubby hole with his little sister when his father had come home drunk and yelling at his mother again. He had held a hand over his crying sister's mouth as they watched their father repeatedly hitting their mother until she screamed and crumpled to the floor. Their father had kicked their mother one more time before running from the house,  leaving her laying there.  
  
"Mom, I can't leave you. Let me call Elenanora. She can come help, call the cops even." John knew it wouldn't do any good to call the cops, after all his father was one of them. He squatted down, his sneakers covered in his mother's blood and reached for her pale,  cold hand. A slight cough wracked her body and he saw a small bloody bubble pop as it came from her mouth. "No. It is too late my darling. Take Jane and run,  before he comes back."  
  
He hesitated, his seven year old mind knowing his mother lay dying but unable or unwilling to move his body to do as she told him too. A cry from his right snapped him out of it as his five year old sister, Jane, let out another choking sob as she stared at them. When he looked back down at his mother, her blue eyes open but now sightless in her death, it gave him the necessary shock to get moving. He grabbed his sister's hand and ran.  
  
No one believed him, not his older half sister, not the cops, no one. They all believed his father. The report he filed, he had come home to find the door open and his beloved wife dead on the floor. It must have been shock,  the adults whispered to each other, that must be the reason a child would be so confused and went about telling them that his father was the one that had killed their mother. After a while John stopped trying to get them to listen.  
  
He kept what he had seen to his self. He kept a close eye on his sister. She kept yelling about his father and he had overheard his father and older sister saying that she needed to be hospitalized,  that her mind was broken. "Jane,  listen to me. You need to stop saying it. If you don't they are going to split us up,  send you away." He whispered to her one night as they hid under her bed. She had been punished and sent to her room. John had used the small crawlspace to slip between his room and hers. She was still laying there clutching her teddy bear and sniffling.  
  
"But it's the truth. He kilted mommy dead. Mommy always said to tell the truth and that's the truth." Her lips were quivering but set in a determined pout. Her stubbornness about things always got her into trouble. But this time it would do more than get her a time out. "I know it's the truth, Janie. But you need to stop saying it. They won't listen to us. We know what happened. We won't forget and one day,  just maybe we will find someone that will listen. But none of these will,  all we are to them are little kids that don't understand." He watched as his little sister hugged that ratty,  tattered bear closer to her and stared at him with the huge, blue eyes that they had both inherited from their mother. "Alright. But Johnnie, what are we going to do? I don't want to be here. He's getting mean again."  
  
He closed his eyes, he didn't know what to do. He was only seven and just now starting to understand how things worked. How was he going to keep the two of them together and safe? "I don't know, Jane. But maybe he won't hurt us if we keep quiet and behave. Let them think we forgot and believe his story. One day, I'll be an adult and I'll get us out of here."  
  
Those next eleven years passed slowly. Neither one ever forgot for one moment the events of that day. No matter what the adults had thought. Their father had been killed a few years before in a drug raid. The investigation said it had been one of the dealers that did the shooting. Both of the kids wondered if that was actually so or had someone actually believed them and had waited until the opportunity presented itself? Their father had been shot in the back which made the report highly unlikely.  Their dad's funeral had been a somber affair, no one sticking around to offer more than brief condolences before leaving. Except for their dad's partner. He had stopped and talked with them then driven them home. A few weeks later they had received a letter from him, the return address was from the Citadel and he asked that they come to see him sometime.

 

* * *

  
  
John's basic training was up and he had been assigned to a small outpost at the edge of their space. His sister sent messages daily and he knew the day she turned 18 she would be following in his footsteps. She had never been more than a few paces behind him since they were children,  always shadowing him. He was currently sitting at a bar having another drink during his leave when he heard a woman cry out. His head turned and he saw a man knock a female to the ground. Everyone just turned their backs toward the scene, pretending they hadn't seen anything.  
  
John saw red and was off the bar stool in a flash, his fist connecting to the other man and sent him flying. "Try hitting someone that isn't afraid or too weak to fight back, you motherfucker." The man struggled to his feet, swiping the back of his hand against his mouth leaving a smear of bright red blood behind. He took a swing at John and missed. The next thing John knew he had the man pinned to floor beating the hell out of him.  
  
He felt someone grab a hold of his arm and looked up, a haze of red over his eyes until he noticed it was the woman that was pulling on him. "Come on mister, you need to get out of here."

The other people at the bar backed away from him. John stared down at the unconscious man beneath him and stood up. He looked around him, a grimace of disgust on his face at the people he saw, "how could any of you call yourselves men, let alone human for letting him beat on a woman?"  
  
The next morning he received a call from his Commanding Officer. He was to report within the next thirty minutes or face charges. He stood in front of the man, his back ramrod straight as he listened to him. The man was filing charges against him, there had been no mention of him protecting a woman. Only that he had attacked the civilian without provocation.  
  
"Anything to say for yourself , Ensign?" His Commander waited,  finally giving him permission to speak freely. John told him it was bullshit and wouldn't do any good to refute it. He knew how these things worked. He closed his mouth and then just stood there waiting. His Commander leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms. "I know there is more to it, Shepard. I know the guy filing the charges. He's nothing but a drunk bastard. Take my advice. Keep your nose clean from here on out. If you're gonna help anyone you need to do it quietly and be careful about it. I won't be able to help you again." John blinked at the man. "Dismissed, Ensign. You are assigned to KP duty for the next two months. Don't leave the base. I'll take care of this."

 

* * *

  
  
John's re-enlistment was due soon, he had to think if he wanted to stay in the military or get out. His pay hadn't been much,  but then again he had no real expenses so hadn't spent the majority of it. The same for his sister who was stationed on a starship. They spoke that night during one of the rare occurrences when the ship had stopped near one of the comm buoys.  
  
"I don't know Jane. I just don't think the military life is for me. I keep feeling there is something more that I am supposed to be doing,  something different than guarding this mining outpost." He tipped his chair back,  balancing on the back two legs and propped his feet on the desk. His sister was doing almost the exact same thing, her bright blue eyes staring at him. "If you're not happy then don't stay. I like this ship, met some good people. But I know it's not the same as what you are doing. If I wasn't satisfied with the life I'd leave it. My enlistment is up in another 2 years, depending on what they tell me and what you are doing I'll make a decision then. But you big brother, I think you're meant for something bigger,  something better than that dust bowl of a planet."  
  
They talked for a while longer then she received the message alert, her time was up someone else needed the terminal. "Let me know what you decide, Johnnie."

 

* * *

  
  
John stood on the docks of the Citadel, the letter that for some reason he kept from his father's ex partner held in his hand. He had sent a note to the address not expecting an answer, not expecting for him to even remember who he had been after so many years. But the response came back by overnight courier service. He remembered him and told him to come on by, there was room at his place for him to stay and they could talk,  could catch up and go from there.  
  
John pushed the comm button and waited, several minutes later the door swished open and Bailey greeted him. He still looked the same even after so many years.  The same crew cut he had carried over from his military days, the same tough as nails persona. Now just with a few more scars and grey hairs.  
  
"Shepard,  damn son, you sure have gotten big. The last time I saw you,  you weren't more than waist high. Come on in, boy." Bailey led him to the couch and John dropped his rucksack on the floor beside it. "Nice to see you again, sir. I wasn't sure you would know who I even was."  
  
"I remember you, Shepard. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you and your sister and what might have happened to you. Didn't think you got my letter all those years ago or kept it." Bailey tossed him a beer before sitting on the chair opposite him. They spoke for a while, John told him some of what he had been doing,  Bailey letting him know he was Captain on the Zakera Ward and if he wanted a job he could pull some strings.

 

* * *

  
  
Several months passed with John working as an officer on the same ward when he stumbled upon a woman lying in an alleyway. She had barely been breathing and he called for the medics to come. After the doctors gave them the ok, John's senior partner started to ask questions of the woman. John stood back and made sure that his omni tool was taking the statement also. Sometimes discrepancies within reports came up and Bailey had told him to always cover his ass by taking his own recordings.  
  
He noticed the way the woman's eyes would flick back and forth between them,  her hesitancy in answering the questions and his brows drew down. His own eyes flicked between his partner and the woman. He almost missed it but noticed the way that even though his partner seemed to be noting items into his datapad that barely anything showed on the screen. His eyes flicked back to the woman who met his eyes and he gave her just the barest of nods. She seemed to relax slightly.  
  
After his shift was over John made his way back to the hospital, he was in nondescript civilian clothes and had his head covered with the hood of his jacket. He made sure no one was in the hallway before slipping back through the woman's door. She started to panic until he took down the hood and held his finger to his lips. "I'm here to help not to hurt you. I think there were things you weren't saying because you were afraid too. I also noticed what my partner was doing. Is it a cop that did this to you? Your husband?"  
  
She sank back into her pillow and stared at him with a look of fright in her eyes. He scratched his head then brought up his omni tool to show the report of his mother's death. "My dad was a cop. He did this to my mother, I saw it with my own eyes and no one would believe me." He watched as the woman read over the article and her eyes flicked back to his own. "That bastard got away with it. I want to help you,  I want to do what I can to make sure what happened to her doesn't happen to you. Please, let me help you."  
  
She watched him a few minutes longer and he thought she wouldn't say anything. Apologized for bothering her so late at night and had turned to leave when he heard the barest of whispers. "It was my husband."  
  
He turned back to her and dragged the chair to the side of the bed and sat down. "I'll listen to you."

 

* * *

  
  
Bailey caught him going through old records on other incidents that his partner had been on and noticed most of them had a severe lack of information and none of the cases had been closed. When he brought it up to Bailey after making sure the door was closed, he also told him about the woman that was in the hospital. Bailey let out a string of cuss words then told him there wasn't anything he could do ... legally. She didn't press charges and told them a different story and a completely different name than what she told him.  
  
"Do you believe her, Shepard?" Bailey asked him as he leaned a hip on the table.

John nodded, "yeah,  I know that look. I remember it well."  
  
Bailey opened his omnitool and a few minutes later a turian came through the door. John had seen him a few times,  at least he thought he may have. There was so many with the same coloring but he had learned there were distinguishing marks that they had. This one had blue markings on his face and blue eyes.  
  
"Vakarian. What I am going to tell you is off the record and not to leave this room. Is that clear?" Bailey said to the turian who had just closed the door. John started to say something and Bailey cut him off. "Vakarian is known to butt heads with superiors when he thinks all the red tape gets in the way. He's not your usual turian."  
  
"Well, Captain,  that's one way to put it I suppose. My father and the Executor would say it a different way." The tall turian crossed his arms and waited. Bailey told him what was going on and John added the rest. Vakarian's nose started to twitch as did his mandibles.  
  
"Does this sort of thing happen a lot in your human culture?" His visor started to run more rapidly than it had before and John wondered what he was up to. Had it been a mistake for Bailey to bring him there?  
  
"More than what it should." Bailey sighed as he moved to sit on the table. "What do you want me to do?" The turian asked as he leaned his tall frame against the wall.  
  
"We need to get this woman to safety. Away from her husband. We need to hide her until she can get to her sister. We need to do it soon,  like tonight. The doctors said she can be released tomorrow and she doesn't want go back to him. We're damn lucky he hasn't found her yet."  
  
Vakarian let out a grunt, "she had no omni tool or ID on her?" John let out a snort of disgust and watched as the turian nodded, his visor scrolling even more rapidly before stopping and blinking. He opened his omni tool and typed out a message. "My sister is on the Citadel. She'll meet us at the hospital."  
  
Bailey nodded, "don't tell me anything about it. Just watch the cameras and whatever you do,  don't let your asses get caught."  
  
Vakarian waited until Bailey had left the room, "if Solana is willing, she'll help to smuggle the human from the docks on a turian ship. I doubt that bastard would even think of her leaving with a turian. Let's go."  
  
After explaining to his sister what was happening and the way his sister had practically stomped her way to the woman's room, John didn't think anything would stop the female from helping the human woman. At first the woman was scared of the two aliens and had refused. John told her not to worry they would help. Solana had sat on the chair and talked to the woman for a few minutes and it seemed to lessen her fears until she nodded. John stuck his head out the door and looked around. He turned around to see Garrus, as the male turian had told him to call him, fiddle with his omni tool before unhooking the monitors from the female.  
  
Both males turned their backs after Solana yelled at them about a privacy while she helped the woman into a set of John's old sweats. They heard a snorting, laughing sound and turned around to see the things hanging off of the small woman and both of them trying not to laugh. They ended up just using the shirt, it had ended just above the woman's knees. Garrus nodded then led the way with him overriding the camera and security system to hide them escaping.  
  
They had to take it slow as the woman's ribs were still healing and she couldn't move as fast as they did. At one point Garrus offered to carry her. She shook her head,  telling him that she had to do this herself. Both of the turians looked at her and waved their mandibles. Solana placed her hand on the human's shoulder, "your strength started at this moment. Don't forget the feeling."  
  
It had taken them almost two hours to work their way to the dock where Solana's small ship was nestled in the personal docking slips. "Tell Dad I got a call from a friend and had to leave. I'll get her somewhere safe so she can contact her sister." The woman thanked John and Garrus profusely, then Solana punched Garrus for even thinking that she might not have helped and gave John the once over with her eyes before leading the woman on board the ship.  
  
"I need a drink." Garrus said as he rubbed his abdomen. John was still standing and staring at the ship until the lights flashed signaling the departure. "Yeah, me too. My treat."  
  
The next afternoon both of them woke up with massive hangovers and were sprawled over the furniture in John's living room. They both looked at each other and knew that what they had done last night was one of the best things that either had done in their lives. Both realized they would do it again if the opportunity presented itself.  
  
And it had many times over.

* * *

  
  
John came out of the memories of the other ones they had helped,  and how those had turned around and started to help him as a way to say thank you. The way The Consortium had grown from him helping that one woman to helping others like her by the thousands from all over the galaxy.  
  
"Sir,  you have an incoming message from Recon 1. Should I put it through." The female's voice came over the speaker on his desk. "Yeah,  and hold other calls until I say otherwise unless they are urgent."  
  
"Hey big brother, we just finished the recon on that planet you sent us too. There is something strange going on here Johnnie. This place is busier than it should be. According to records it is only supposed to be a small civilian outpost, nothing more was supposed to be here but a few buildings and farms,  that sort of crap. But we picked up on a lot more than that and it took us a while to find a spot close enough to land."  
  
"What did you and Kryik find there? And you better have been working not just screwing around with him on that planet." John grinned at his sister as she flipped her middle finger at him.

"There is cargo going in and out. A lot coming in and it's going to an underground bunker area. When we infiltrated it Nihlus got worried. A bunch of things that could be combined into explosives he said. There are a ton of weapons here,  John. The kind made of ceramic and plastic. They wouldn't set off the weapons scanner on the Citadel. What the hell have you gotten us mixed up in?"  
  
John frowned at her. Explosives? Weapons? What the hell. "I don't know sis. I sent you guys there thinking to find a link with that client's husband. Not that ..." He pulled over a datapad and started adding information on it. He glanced up when a deep male turian voice told him that there had been a shipment that went out a few days ago. The copper colored turian with the cream colored markings sat beside his sister with his arm thrown casually around her shoulders. "Hey Kryik. See if you can find out more information. We had an explosion on the Citadel several days ago. Took out a cultural center. A lot of deaths,  mostly non human. There have been others. Etarn's nephew is the lead investigator on that case and our client is dating him. Keep me informed,  if you see any more shipments going out let me know right away. I'll send in a tip and see if we can't stop another bombing. If it pans out, we'll help stop it. Hold surveillance for another month then head to HQ."  
  
He leaned back in his chair. "Garrus still hasn't come up with anything on that locket and we are still clueless about why that bastard is after the woman like he is. There has been nothing to tell me or even a hint that she knows what is going on with the bombings or anything else. The reports show her going to work, to the range and only shopping when Etarn's nephew, Julian, has been with her. No strange messages, no detours. Nothing."  
  
Nihlus let out a turian laugh, "that bastard still trying to set up his nephew?"

John smiled at him, "yep and looks like he finally might have done it. She's living there with him.  He's with her everywhere and Garrus said Julian is showing the protective mate habits." Nihlus sat forward and looked at John with those bright green eyes of his.

"They are living openly together? Not hiding it?" His mandibles started to flutter as he looked over at Jane.  
  
"No, he's not hiding it. From what Garrus said, Julian is open about it. Holding hands as they walk, like humans do. He has openly confronted several other turians when they have said something to him. Samara's report said she had witnessed him touching her face and a few times has even gone as far as pressing his crest to her forehead in public. The bastard has guts I'll tell you that. I don't know, maybe it will help to gain acceptance for couples like you guys. Or get him exiled. Hell, even Etarn has laid into several of his customers for commenting about it. All he sees is a plethora of baby nieces or nephews in his future,  he doesn't care if they are turian or human."  
  
He watched as Nihlus continued to stare at his sister and a slow smile spread over her mouth. His own giving a twitch at the hopeful expression that came into Jane's eyes. She did love that turian bastard so and was heartbroken that he insisted they had to hide their relationship when out in public.  
  
John rubbed his stomach in remember pain when he had confronted Nihlus and accused him of using his sister,  among other things. Nihlus had beat him black and blue and it was Garrus' intervention between the two that kept John from getting worse. He was the one that told John about the stigma attached to relationships like the one his sister was in,  and by hiding it Nihlus was doing his best to protect her, to show her how much he cared for her. But now maybe with others openly showing themselves ....  
  
He cleared his throat and got his mind back on track and away from his sister's relationship. A knock sounded on the door and he glanced up with a frown. A beep on his omni tool chimed and the frown melted off his face. He pushed the button and the door unlocked, sliding shut and locking again after the female came sashaying in. He pushed his chair back a bit as the gold and black encased form of his girlfriend settled on his lap.  
  
"Lia'Vael, how you doing?" Jane's voice came over the speaker and Jane gave a wave to the quarian now sitting in her brother's lap. The masked face of the quarian turned toward the screen and she could see the narrowing of the glowing eyes behind the smoky covering.

"Jane! Are you going to be coming back soon? I found this absolutely great lingerie store that just opened and they had the cutest lace outfit that would match your eyes perfectly. I think Nihlus would just love it." The flashing of the small light on the mask flickered with each word. John let out a groan and a snarl as the thought of what that bastard would be doing to his little sister in an outfit like that entered his mind. Then gave a shiver and shook his head.  
  
"Not for at least a month." Jane had settled back against Nihlus' carapace and spoke for a while longer. John let his mind wonder as his hands slid along Lia'Vael's thigh and back. He heard her tell Jane that she wanted to get together as soon as possible.  She had heard from Tali.  Kal and her would be on the Citadel sometime next month to trade for more resources and to upgrade their servers again. She looked back over to John and placed one of her three fingered hands on his shoulder before she asked him, "do you think you could send one of the other recon teams there to replace them if it's going to take longer than that? I really,  really want all of us to get together next month."  
  
John thought about it, then reached over to type one handed on the holo keyboard bringing up a list of his teams and current assignments. "If it takes longer than their current schedule I can give them a few days. It looks like team 3 is due to come back from their time off around then. But their scheduled break month isn't for a while yet, love and you know we can't move things around too much." He grinned as she let out a squeal.  
  
"We only need a few days. I can't wait." She gave a small bounce and he let out a grunt as she hit his growing erection where it had been pressing into her hip.  
  
Nihlus let out a laugh and muttered about how that quarian had him wrapped around her finger. John glanced at the turian and let out a snort, smirking as he saw the turian pouring a glass of wine for his sister before handing it to her along with a small bowl of berries. "Get back to work. See you later,  little sister." He cut the connection just as he saw his sister pulling the turian's head toward her own.  
  
He reached over pushing the intercom connected to his receptionist. "Dahlia, I'm taking lunch now. Continue to hold calls and messages. If it's urgent put it through." He heard the "yes, sir" as he watched his girlfriend stand up. He pulled her toward the hidden panel in the wall where he pushed the control button sliding the door open into the decon chamber that separated his office from the sterile bedroom. Lia'Vael's giggles turned to moans as the panel slid shut behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

 

 

The month had flown past. Julian had taken Sara out more and more as his time off from work allowed. It helped when Etarn pestered Thane into making slight tweaks here and there to Sara's work schedule. Tonight was the night he had planned to take her to the range for several hours. They had been neglecting her training as she had usually been too tired between work, school and the martial arts training she had with Thane.  
  
While she was showering and getting ready he went into his room and opened the locks on the large wall cabinets. The panels raised up revealing his collection. Pistols, shotguns, rifles. Human, turian, asari made, locked into place next to quarian, batarian and salarian made models. He pulled out the folding table from the wall and laid the first of the cases on it. Kneeling down he stripped the glove off his one hand and had just reached for the biometric lock to get the specialized keys to unlock the weapons when he heard a noise behind him.  
  
He twisted around enough to see Sara standing there wide eyed with her jaw dropped open, staring into the cabinets. "Sara?"  
  
"Holy cow, Julian. I knew you had several guns but... why so many?" She took a few steps closer and looked down at him. Then her eyes widened again at the sight of his gloveless hand. His mandibles fluttered and he hurriedly opened the box, quickly replacing his glove before standing.  
  
"I... uh,  also collect them. I like learning about and using those from other cultures. Especially if I can find a working model of one no longer in production." He had his back to her the entire time he was talking to her. Unlocking the various sniper rifles and moving them to the case.  
  
"Julian? What's wrong?" She stood near him as he paused in locking the case.  
  
"I didn't realize you were in the room when I took off my glove. I am sorry if it frightened you. It is socially unacceptable for an adult turian to not have gloves on when in the presence of another race unless they are mated. We have long since found that the sight of our hands ... had the tendency to unsettle others. Being descended from a predator race we have our main weapons naturally available to us. Those without the tough plating of our kind find them, distasteful."  
  
She watched him flex his fingers before picking up the case and swapping it out with another one. Several minutes of watching him load up the assault rifles went past without him saying another word to her.  
  
"Can I see them?" She finally asked quietly. He stopped what he had been doing,  not sure he knew what she was talking about.  
  
"They are all unloaded. If you want to see one in particular just point it out and I will gladly show it to you." He took the safe path. She didn't want to see his hands. She wasn't his mate yet and no human would react with anything other than with fright at the long talons that made up his "fingers". He heard the shifting of her clothing then felt her hand touch his gloved one.  
  
"Not what I meant, Julian."  
  
His mandibles waved and he swallowed. "I don't know... don't want to scare you. Every time I have touched you it has been gloved and you accepted that touch. I don't want to ..."  
  
"You don't want me to shy away from your hand because of what it looks like?" Sara asked gently. She knew that he would never intentionally hurt her. She had already known that his body was so much different than hers. She found that out when he startled her in the shower and she got an eyeful. She had been too busy ogling this body to pay any attention to his hands. "It won't scare me, Julian."  
  
She watched as his mandibles fluttered and felt his hand flex under her palm. "Trust me,  Julian." His gaze flew to her own,  his eyes searching her face. She waited for his nod before stroking over his gloved talons and carefully easing the glove over his hand. Her fingers caressed the rough palm before turning his hand over and stoking gently along first one finger that ended in a long black talon then the others. Her index finger slid along the top of the hard surface that was smooth and gleamed in the light of his room.  
  
She looked into his face and smiled when he let out his breath and started to relax. "They're so smooth. Not sharp at all." She said to him as she went back to stroking along his talons.  
  
"I ...uh, file them down. It is something that the turians that are mated to asari do. It keeps them from injuring their partners during uh ..." his mandibles flicked madly. And she raised an eyebrow. He eased his hand away from hers and put his glove back on. "So do you see anything you want?"  He asked nervously before turning back to the rifles. She gave a laugh. "Shit. I meant.."  
  
She sat on his bed as he packed up an assortment of shotguns and then the pistols,  making sure to add the ones she had wanted to try along with the Edge III that she seemed to favor. She helped to carry the cases out to his transport cart.  


* * *

  
  
"Ok, Sara. Are you absolutely sure you want to try one of these?" Julian indicated the assault rifle that she had just pointed to. "It's a lot different than that pistol. Stronger kick with the recoil, you have to hold it differently and if you don't do it right you can end up breaking your shoulder or almost taking your eye out because of the scope." He was nervous about letting her use a larger weapon but if she wanted to try one,  he supposed him being there to guide and protect her was the best way to do it.  
  
"I'm sure. Just do it nice and slow with me." She blinked up at him and he paused then scratched his crest. _Was she ... nah... she didn't mean it that way._   He had to get his mind back to what was going on and not let it wander down that path.  
  
"Alright. Here stand at the counter." He looked over the rifles he brought with him and picked out one that was a semi-automatic and brought it with him back into the stall. He pointed out each of the parts, showed her that it was set for semi automatic,  explaining to her that one shot will be fired each time she pulled the trigger. He advised her not to flip it to automatic as it would spray shots as long as the trigger was held down and it could quickly get out of her control.  
  
"It would be easier if you knelt down on one knee. It will give you balance and some better support for your aim. If you decide you want to continue to learn than we can work up to a standing position." He used the stalls keypad and had the counter retract into the wall before he handed her the gun. He knelt beside and a bit behind her as he showed her how to place it correctly to the meaty pocket of her shoulder,  double checked that it wasn't too close to her collarbone so she would have less of a chance of breaking it and that she didn't try and tuck it up under her armpit as well.  
  
"Ok, Sara. Gently place your cheek against the stock and look into the scope. Notice how there is quite a bit of space between you and the scope?" She kept fidgeting around until she seemed to get comfortable.  
  
"Yeah, shouldn't it be closer so I can see through it right?" She adjusted her cheek again and he gave a slight laugh.  
  
"Only if you want the recoil of the rifle to ram it into your eye."  
  
"Yeah, I don't think I would like that at all." She gave a slight snort then fidgeted again.

"What is going on Sara,  you are acting like you have lutra crawling on you." She glanced over at him with a confused expression. "Small biting insects, very annoying."  
  
"Actually, the floor is hurting my knee." He glanced down and then nodded. He reached for the rifle and put it into the case, "wait here I'll be right back." He hurried out the door and was back in less than five minutes with several mats under his arm. He handed her the mats and waited until she knelt on them again before handing her the rifle. Walking her back through positioning it.  
  
He moved directly behind her, making small adjustments to her elbow,  tucking it closer into her body. Then to the one on her knee, placing the meaty side against her knee and telling her not to use the pointy part of it.  
  
"Okay,  now just breathe and relax, let your cheek fall against the stock naturally. That's good. Now look into the scope and focus on that tiny little bead. Everything will look blurry around it. When the target comes into focus and that tiny bead is dead center gently squeeze the trigger. I'm right here with you."  
  
He waited patiently as she took several shaky breaths then watched her move her trigger finger from the spot in front of the guard down to the trigger. One more breath and she squeezed it. She also ended up on her ass from the recoil.  
  
"Spirits, Sara are you alright? Are you hurt?" He carefully took the rifle out of her hands as she groaned and stood up, rubbing her butt.  
  
"Need thicker mats." She groaned out as she leaned against the dividing wall.  
  
He let out a snort of laughter and hit the readout for the target. He turned to her and handed her the datapad with a grin on his face. "At least you hit the target before the recoil took you down."  
  
"Oh haha,  very funny."  
  
She leaned against the wall and watched Julian finish his practice and then helped him to make sure everything was put away and secured. "You did really well tonight,  you are getting better. Even if you lost the fight with the rifle." His mandibles twitched in laughter as he drew her closer to him.  
  
"You aren't going to let me forget that are you?" Her hands were on his carapace and he gave her a slight squeeze on her hips.  
  
"Nope." He said before he lowered his head to hers. Over this past month he had become more proficient in the way of kissing his human. He knew he wouldn't ever be able to do it properly since he lacked those fleshy lips,  but she seemed to like it nevertheless.  
  
Their kiss was interrupted by the opening of the range door. A tall copper colored turian walked in, glancing at the two people in the corner that was still standing in an embrace, then took up a position at the other end of the room.

Julian let out a sigh, at least that turian minded his own business and hadn't said anything.  
  
"You ready to go home?" He asked her quietly. At her nod he took her hand and they headed for the door. Julian dropped a quick kihi to her forehead before they walked out. Neither one saw or heard the intrigued hum or smile that came from the other turian.  


* * *

  
  
The next morning Thane greeted them as they walked through the shop doors. "Ahh,  there you are. I have received a message from Shepard. It was nothing urgent so you can both wipe that panicked look from your faces. Now this message said he wanted you both to come meet with him and some of his associates. I do know them and can vouch for them. I do believe it would benefit all of you to meet ... in many ways. I am giving you the next two days off as that is how long the group is on the Citadel for." He glanced up at Julian. "I do believe if you call your supervisor you will be notified that two days of leave have been issued to you as well." Thane's lips twisted into a light smile as he watched the turian receive the message from his boss with a hum of surprise and a flicking of mandibles.  
  
Thane transferred the meeting place to their omni tools. "Both of you enjoy your time off. It may be enlightening for both of you."

 

* * *

  
  
"I don't like this one bit, Sara. I know that Thane said he knew them. But does he really? How do we know they didn't forge a message just to set us up." Julian said quietly to her as they walked down the Zakera Ward,  heading toward the lower level shops and restaurants.  
  
"Julian, you're being paranoid. Thane wouldn't fall for that." She felt his grip on her hand tighten and he drew her to a stop outside of The Lily Pad restaurant where they were supposed to meet up with the others.  
  
"I just don't want anything to happen to you Sara. You should know that by now." He said to her,  leaning close and dropping his head to hers as her hand caressed his mandible. They jerked apart as someone brushed past them entering the same building.  
  
"Come on,  this place looks to be pretty busy. If it's some sort of setup I doubt they would have chosen it." Sara took him by the hand and they walked through the door.  
  
She looked around finally seeing Shepard standing and waving to them from a large table in the corner. She gave a slight wave and told the hostess they were with that party. They hesitated as they drew closer,  the table was packed with people.  
  
"Come on,  have a seat,  don't be shy." Shepard said to them and waited until Julian held out a chair for Sara before sitting in the only other one open. Thankfully it was beside hers. If it hadn't he would have forced one of the others to move.  
  
"Well,  since I know who you are I'll do the introductions. Right then. He pointed to a female quarian dressed in purple and black. You know Tali'Zorah, at least you spoke to her a while ago. The male quarian at her side is her spouse, Kal'Reegar." The male dressed in red and yellow gave them a nod while Tali waved at her.  
  
"This lovely quarian is my girlfriend Lia'Vael."  They heard her giggle, "hello there."  
  
"This ugly human to my left is my younger sister, Jane." He let out a grunt as she elbowed him and everyone let out a small laugh. Everyone but the two newcomers knew how much he doted on his sister.  
  
"The turian beside her, you can just call him Nihlus." He gave a negligent wave of his hand in the turian's general direction.  
  
Julian was staring at the other turian his mandibles waving. "I know you from somewhere."  
  
Nihlus didn't say a word,  nor did his sub harmonics register anything.

John cleared his throat, "now everyone. These two that just joined us are Sara Maloy, a Consortium ... customer. And her boyfriend, Julian Patrus, also known as Etarn's nephew."  
  
A laugh sounded from next to Sara,  the male quarian's helmet light flashed. "That bastard really did it,  you weren't kidding were you. He finally got a hook up for him. No offense,  ma'am." He gave a slight grunt which signaled a direct hit from Tali's elbow in the unarmored area of his suit.  
  
"That damn uncle of mine." Julian hissed, his mandibles flicked to the side. He glanced back up and noticed the way the other turian was looking at Sara.  
  
"And I'm Shepard." He gave a huge grin at everyone. "Now, you are probably both wondering why I asked you to join us. Well, first of all my sister wanted to meet you, Sara. Secondly to let you know that we are still working on everything. So don't think we have forgotten you. But for the next few days the ladies here begged me to give them time to hang out on the Citadel instead of working and I thought you would like some company. You never know you may find you have something in common with them. But no more shop talk right now,  let's order and eat this fine food and get to know each other."  
  
The conversation was stilted at first. Julian didn't do anything but stare at Nihlus who was staring at Sara and him.  
  
A clearing of a modulated female throat brought Julian's attention back to the others at the table. "So Sara, Lia'Vael found a wonderful little shop we are planning to go to tomorrow. And I was hoping you would go with us, it will be just us females, get away from these overbearing men for a while. It will be fun, we will spend the whole day shopping and spending their credits." Tali told her, hoping to break some of the tension that was at the table.  
  
Julian bristled. "I don't think that's a good idea. She needs to be protected. With me not there to watch over her, if that bastard is on board the Citadel, it would be the prime opportunity to grab her. No."  
  
Jane raised her eyebrow, "who the hell said she wouldn't be protected?" Nihlus shifted in his seat. No one saw him place a taloned hand on Jane's thigh and give a light squeeze.  
  
"Look, thanks for lunch and all. But to be honest, I don't know you people. I don't know what any of you can do to protect her. I almost lost her once because of my inattention. I am not going to take the chance on losing her because a bunch of strangers tell me not to worry. For all I know you people could be nothing but ... garbage collectors, that that guy," he pointed to Shepard, "hired for a day to pretend to be some... highly trained, mission critical... super squad or something."  
  
Sara gave a slight snort, "Julian, you've been watching too many of those old Earth kid shows." She reached over and stroked his mandible which brought his full attention to her. "It will be alright. I trust Shepard. He helped me when I needed it."  
  
"Sara, I can't lose you. It doesn't feel right if I'm not there to watch over you."  
  
"You're not going to lose me. Trust me. I really do think I will be safe with them."  
  
No one at the table moved as they watched the byplay between the two of them. When Julian leaned down and kissed her right there in front of them and everyone in the restaurant, the only thing heard was a woman's drawn in breath.  
  
Julian broke the human kiss and placed his crest against her forehead. "Alright, if that is what you want." When he stopped the kihi and sat back in his chair he was still staring at her, "don't forget, Sara,  you were the one that showed me those old kid shows to begin with."  


* * *

  
  
Jane was snuggled up against a rather quiet Nihlus back in their Consortium owned apartment. "I still can't believe what I saw, Nihlus. He really didn't care that others had seen them. He kissed her, really kissed her in public."  
  
"I saw it Jane. I also saw how only a few of the other people in the place even cared. Only a handful of turians and humans. No one else really even paid much attention. Maybe things are finally changing." He tightened his hold on his mate and laid there long after she had fallen asleep. Thinking, wishing, hoping.  



	11. Chapter 11

* * *

 

 

The next morning the group of ladies showed up at their apartment. Sara was still changing and he told them they could just wait right there at the door. Jane raised her eyebrow and gave him a smirk as he crossed his arms over his carapace and stared at them all.

When Sara came out she saw what he was doing and shook her head. "Julian, behave yourself."

"I don't like strangers in our apartment. Especially these strangers." His hand slipped around her and pulled her close.

She smiled, somewhere along the line it went from his apartment to their apartment, "I'll be back shortly. I'm looking forward to some time with them, I've not had a day spent just shopping and having girl talk since before I had been married."

"Well, alright then. You have your omni tool? If anything happens, use your signal and call me right away. No matter what, I'll come to you. And here, this is for you, no arguments. Enjoy yourself, Sara. I'll be here when you get back." Julian handed her a credit chit and put his finger over her lips as she went to argue. "No arguments remember." He gave her a turian grin then leaned down to kiss her.

 

* * *

 

He paced, he worried, he constantly opened up his omni tool expecting a message. Double checked that it hadn't been turned to silent mode. Then paced some more. It was close to lunch when it went off. He jumped at the sudden sound then opened it hurriedly.

_"Julian,_

_I know you're probably worried. Don't be, I'm having fun. I like them. We just stopped for lunch. Then they want to take me to a few more stores. Shepard's sister, who also answers to just Shepard, have no idea how they would know which one was being talked to if they were together in the same room, but anyway, she is taking us to one of the ladies only clubs for "relaxation treatments". Apparently it is something good because both quarians even squealed in excitement. I'll send you another message when we get there. Try and relax._

_Yours,_

_Sara."_

*~*

"What in the Spirit's name did she mean by relaxation treatments?" Julian muttered to himself as he finished reading the mail then sent a reply back, reminding her that if she needed him to just call him.

Shortly after, his door chime went off and he tapped on the camera access seeing the men from yesterday standing at the door. ""What?" His surly voice came over the intercom.

Shepard held up a six pack of beer in both hands. "The ladies are out having fun, why the hell should we stay at home and mope while waiting for them. Let us in, the bioti-ball game starts in thirty minutes, hope the hell you have the sports channel."

He stared at them through the camera and wondered if it was some sort of trick, then opened the door. If the bastards were here he could keep an eye on them. They filed in and Julian took the bottles and cans from them placing them in the cooler on the shelves he had color coded. The turian dumped bags on the table that held snacks for all of them.

"Only have the couch and one chair. You can sit on the floor or drag a chair from the kitchen in, but this place is small. The bathroom is that door with that weird hanging thing on it that Sara stuck up there. Make sure to lower the seat when you're done and spray the stuff in that pink can before you walk out. Use the blue towel to wipe your hands on not the purple one."

"Damn, she has you trained already." Shepard grinned and slapped Julian on the back as he walked past him and sat on the chair. He grabbed up the remote and started flipping through the channels as the others grabbed snacks or drinks and dragged in chairs.

Julian's mandibles flicked and the other turian looked up at him, his mandible slightly twitched as he heard the subharmonics coming from the younger turian. Julian stomped over, grabbing coasters and shoving them at all of them. "Use these and don't make a mess."

 

* * *

 

The ladies were wondering around the lingerie store, Jane sidled up to Sara. "So with a turian, huh?"

Sara shrugged and smiled, "yeah. Julian is a nice guy, makes me feel safe. I know it's strange and not really common. But he doesn't seem to care," she let out a low laugh, "I haven't been this happy for a while and to think it took an alien to make me feel better about my life. Well, him and the Consortium."

Shepard grinned, "well glad things are working out for you. We're doing the best we can to find out what the hell is going on and keeping an eye on the Citadel. Though no one has spotted either of the damn bastards, we won't let you deal with this alone."

"I'm not alone, I have Julian, but I know what you meant. Thank you."

 

* * *

 

The spa they went to seemed to be a full service center with areas specially designed for each species of female. The two quarians moved off to the one side behind sealed doors while the humans went to a different part. They were oiled, massaged, pampered and perfumed. Their hair was washed and scalp massaged in soothing circles and while they were doing that another set of workers were busily manicuring their nails. A third was giving them a pedicure which kept causing Sara to jerk and giggle as she was very ticklish.

Shepard only grinned as she heard the snorts and so sorry coming from the chair beside her.

As they were relaxing with some treats, a holo screen was lowered and they were joined by Tali and Lia, Sara gasped as she saw the quarian women for the first time. They both waved at her and it seemed they were having a similar treatment done.

"Okay ladies, as soon as we are done here there is one more stop before we go back to Sara's place for a ladies night vid." Shepard said to them as she raised her fruit smoothie up to the screen.

"Oh, I don't know, Julian really doesn't like guests at the apartment." She chewed her lower lip for a moment.

"Oh, pfft. He needs to loosen up a bit. It'll be fun. It's always fun. Who knows when we'll get a chance to spend time like this again." Tali said to her as she waved her three fingered hand toward the screen.

"Well, I guess it will be alright as long as we don't make a mess and not a lot of noise."

Shepard smiled at her then smirked at Tali and Lia, one pencil thin eyebrow raising. Both of the quarians knew that look. Shepard had something planned and it was going to be less than a quiet evening watching Fleet and Flotilla.

 

* * *

 

Julian wasn't paying a bit of attention to the game. He was too busy watching the others and checking his omni tool for messages again. Once in awhile he would get up and gather up any empty bottles, bags or cans and toss them in the compactor. Other times he would wander over and check the outside cameras.

"Patrus, nothing is going to happen to the female. She has protectors around her at all times. Do not become the same as what she fled from."

Julian turned around to see the other turian leaning against the table staring at him.

"What the hell do you mean by that? I would never abuse her that way." Julian puffed up, his mandibles pulled tight and his hands clenched in fists by his side.

"You may not physically abuse her, but her previous mate also kept a tight watch on every other aspect of her life. Where she was and with whom, how long she was there, what she was doing. Constantly interfering with her friends, until they started to become too busy to spend time with her and abandoned her to her fate. Trust in her, trust in us to help her. It is what we are here for, it is what we do. Allow her to have something that her other mate didn't, time with her friends and a life to enjoy." The copper colored turian stared at him with clear green eyes for a moment before he turned, withdrew a bottle from the cooler and went back into the other room.

Julian rubbed his crest then the back of his neck before he followed the other turian.

 

* * *

 

Finally the women were pronounced done and they all left the spa. Sara took a deep breath and couldn't seem to get the smile off her face. She was happy, relaxed and for a short while forgot all her worries. She knew she should have sent a message to Julian, he was probably worried, but she had been having a great time. She flicked open her tool and sent him a short message and told him they would be back soon.

He sent an answer back, happy that she was having a good time and there wasn't a rush. She should enjoy her day out with her new friends. That caused her to tip her head to the side and she almost reached up to scratch it in wonder before she remembered it had just been elaborately put up and didn't want to ruin it.

The final stop that Shepard wanted to make turned out to be the Bag and Barrel, a snack and liquor store on the ward. As the others went down the aisles looking for stuff to get, Sara stayed near the snack section, looking over the bottles of Fizzy Drinks on display in the case. Shepard had her arms loaded down with bottles and bags giving her a snort as she passed by, heading to the counter.

The quarians were similarly loaded down as well and Shepard shook her head at the bottle of Strawberry Fizzy and small bag of trail mix that Sara brought to the counter. "This is vid night, come on, splurge. Don't worry about the cost, it's on me. Get the things you want to enjoy tonight, we're gonna have fun. Girl's night. Go on, go bring some stuff back that you've always wanted to try but couldn't."

Sara looked at her and all the stuff piled up on the counter. She twisted her fingers as the others waited. There were things she had wanted a long time ago before ... she stopped twisting her fingers and dropped her hands. Giving Shepard a smile, she hurried back toward the aisles, returning ten minutes later with enough stuff to even make the quarians laugh and groan about how they were going to get it all back to the apartment. It took some maneuvering and juggling of packages but they finally got everything distributed between the four of them.

 

* * *

 

Sara almost dropped one of the bags as she was trying to swipe her omni tool over the lock on the door then lean in for the retinal scan. The scanner beeped at her and told her to please try again, should the reading fail again C-Sec would be notified of a possible intruder. "I hate this damn thing he installed."

The girls laughed as she tried it again, this time the door lock disengaged and the VI told her welcome home. She only huffed as she tried to straighten up without dropping stuff.

Julian was on his feet when the door slid open, they all noticed his hand reaching toward the slight bulge in the side of his suit, then dropping quickly when they heard the girls. He rushed over to help her with her packages.

"Did you have a good time?" He leaned in and she brushed a kiss on his mandible as the others unloaded their bags on the counter.

"I had a wonderful time, Julian. I'm sorry for not sending you more messages, but I was fine and having a blast. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. But there is something I should have mentioned to you." She looked up into his amber eyes.

"What? Did something happen?" He put down the package he held in his hand and started to check her over. She batted his hands away as he reached for her head.

"No touching the hair tonight. I just had it done," they heard a snort coming from the other room and Shepard was there with his hand over his mouth holding in his laughter.

"What you laughing at, bosh'tet? The same goes for you." Lia called out from the kitchen.

"What? Hey! No way!" Shepard's laughter was cut off by his shout of disbelief. Everyone started laughing

"No, Julian nothing like what you were thinking. The girls want to stay here for a bit and watch a vid in the room, a girl's night in, tied in with a day out you could say."

"Oh." He looked at all of them then back at her. His mandibles flicking, "I, uh, guess that will be alright. Did you want to load up the vid out here for all of us or..."

The female Shepard laughed, "no, a girl's night in is for the girls only. Sara said the bedroom had a holo screen too, so it all works out. You guys have your sports and we have our girl vids."

Several trips for cups, ice, napkins and other items the door swished shut and the red light came on.

"Well, boys, I'm placing an order for the liquor store, anyone want anything?" They all called out their orders as Julian stood there still staring at the door for several more minutes.

"Shepard, better put in a dinner order too, we'll need food and if I know those girls we're going to be here a while." Kal said as he stood up and stretched. That snapped Julian's attention back to the group.

 

* * *

 

The girls looked around and noticed that, as Sara was hanging her new clothing purchases up in her small closet, there was nothing but a holo of her, Julian and Etarn in the room. Nothing of Julian's, nothing of any males.

They sat on the bed or floor and Shepard turned on one of the vids she had downloaded from her ship's databanks. About thirty minutes later she let out a sigh. "Tali break out the alcohol. We're gonna need it."

Once the booze started to flow so did the talking. One thing led to another and they were no longer watching the vid but talking about whatever their slowly muddling minds came up with. "I have to asked you two, how did you get with the Consortium? Figured out about Shepard being family, and you know how I came to be here." Shepard passed Sara another bottle and she slowly raised it to her lips.

Lia let out a sigh as she tried to get her straw to go into the small intake port on her helmet. "I had just arrived on the Citadel thinking I would have a better chance at finding work here. You know, more companies, more diversity, there was bound to be something. Only there wasn't, at least not for a quarian." She fiddled with the straw some more finally getting it through the hole. "Anyway, about a month after I was here a volus bumped into me as he was coming out of a shop. He took one look at me, saw I was a quarian, patted his suit pocket and instead of apologizing he started yelling for C-Sec. Well, a human comes rushing over asking what was going on. The volus told the officer I picked his pocket."

She started sucking down the alcohol in the sealed container faster. "The human started questioning me. Didn't take my word that I was innocent, didn't have a damn chit on me, let alone one that was stolen. But did he listen to me? No, he didn't!"

_*Slurp Slurp Slurp*_

"Then this other human and a turian comes up and asks what was going on. The officer tells them that a report was made about a possible stolen chit and if they happened to find one laying around to let him know. Then the bastard lets out a snort." She muttered something that sounded like damned human.

_*Hiccup*_

"Annyway...the new human asked a few questions then walked away. Less than twenty minutes he was back telling the stupid bosh'tet volus that he left his chit at a different store and go get it. Well... the volus didn't like that, nope not one bit, being made to look like a fool. He told the human that I could have stolen it and the C-Sec officer starts in on me about running me in next time, calling me a vagrant and to get a real address. Well, Shepard, that was the new human, pushed the little volus, I was secretly hoping he'd fall and roll around on the floor, anyway he pushed him and told him off. Then the C-Sec officer starts to say something and Shepard cut him off too, telling him that I wasn't a vagrant and yelling at him for harassing me."

She let out a slight giggle, "the C-Sec officer snarled and threatened him, told him he was going to run him in for obstruction until the turian stepped forward. "Well, why don't you call Bailey now and when he reprimands you for not doing your job and actually investigating, which took us all of twenty minutes to find it and get back here, then see if you are still wanting to run us in. Good luck with that by the way, it's never going to happen." The C-Sec officer grit his teeth and stalked off. Shepard stuck around and made sure that I had some credits to buy food with and a few months later we bumped into each other again and got to talking. A few months after that...", she giggled again.

Tali let out a laugh, "my story isn't quite so nice. I came here looking to trade some information, as quarians we leave the fleet and return when we find something of value to present to the ship's Captain that we want to be assigned to as adults. Well, the information wasn't all that valuable to the fleet, but if sold to the right people, it would bring in a lot of credits to buy spare parts and repair stuff. Only I didn't count on the person lying to me and trying to kidnap me. Shepard and a small group saw what was happening and came to my rescue. They took me to see Mordin who patched me up and then they started talking about the tech I was using and offered me a position in their small company. It wasn't until almost a year later when I found out what they really did. They keep everything as secure as possible, even to their employees, but once they were assured of my loyalty they brought me in and I've been with them ever since."

Somehow between more bottles being passed around and bags opened, the talk turned to sex. The giggles started as they all talked about and shared little details, "oh come on, Sara... tell us. Julian is hot, for a turian. What's he like in bed?" Tali was sort of partly leaning and partly laying across the bottom of the bed, the straw of her drink currently moving in a small circle.

Sara turned red and lifted the bottle to her lips, seeming intent on swallowing the fruity sweet alcoholic mixture inside of it as fast as she could. She hiccuped and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand when she was done. Her head hanging and starting to pick at the label. "We haven't done anything more than kiss and well, some outside the clothing touching."

They all just sort of stared at her, "why...why the hell not? I'm a damned quarian and sex could have killed me, but damn if I didn't jump Shepard first chance I got, after we went through the detox and decontamination process. Pinned him to wall and ripped my mask off. He had me on the bed and we were stripped in record time, damn that week of sickness afterward was so worth it."

Sara shrugged, "with what was going on with my ex... he's giving me time, is all."

Shepard stared at her for a moment before lifting the bottle to her own lips and drinking, that eyebrow of her's raised up as she brought the bottle back down. "I get the feeling there is something more."

Sara's eyes flicked up to hers and then back down, "it's ... he's not like a human male. I mean ... well, his body is different."

"Ohhh...so you saw him naked then?" Lia's giggly voice came from behind her mask as she tried to get a different straw into the port without dropping the bottle or falling off the bed. They all laughed as Sara's cheeks flamed.

"Sara?" Shepard waited until Sara met her eyes, "is it because he isn't human? You guys seem to care for each other a lot."

"No, it's not that, not really... I just don't know...what to do or expect." Her voice got quiet as did the room, until Tali let out a snort.

"That's what porn is for Sara."

Sara shoved Tali with her foot almost knocking her from the bed.

Shepard stood up from the bed and sat her bottle down, "I'm gonna go order us some pizza, I know just the thing to watch." She gave Sara a wicked grin before fiddling with her omni tool again.

Both quarians squealed and Sara let out a huge gasp at what popped up on the screen.

 

* * *

 

When the door opened and Shepard walked out, all the guys heard the squeals of females. She fiddled some with the terminal placing their orders. When she went back, the door opened and the men froze and turned toward her when the distinctive sounds of sex came out of the room followed by a, "Shepard, is that really you and Nihlus?" and "oh my god... are all turians that big?"

Nihlus sputtered, the beer dripping from his mouth as his mandibles fluttered and his eyes met his mates. _She wouldn't..._

The men turned to him as the door slid shut.

Julian's mandibles were flicking rapidly and Shepard grabbed another beer upending it.

"She wouldn't.... would she?" Nihlus' dual tones cracked as if under enormous pressure.

"You're the one mated to my sister... you know damn well she would."


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

 

 

After the "vids" ended the girls stumbled out of the bedroom, reeking of alcohol and still giggling as they looked at Nihlus. The female Shepard's face split almost in two with a grin as she weaved her way over to the turian, plopped on his lap and started to run her tongue along his mandible. Kal stood up and grabbed a hold of Tali, "that's our cue to leave. All of the ladies seem drunk off their asses." He wasn't much better as he wobbled and Tali almost knocked him completely off balance when she slumped against him.

Shepard stood up and picked up a now unconscious Lia'Vael and started to carry her toward the door. He was quickly followed by Nihlus who was trying to keep Shepard from undoing the clasps on his clothing.

"Thanks for the great evening, Julian and Sara. We're still working on your case, although probably not tomorrow as we are all going to be passed out asleep most of the day. I'm sure this has been quite an eye opening evening for you both." He gave them a wicked grin and pushed the button to open the door.

When the rest of them filtered out, Julian locked the door and turned around. Sara was wobbling a bit and looking at the mess that was in the living room. She stumbled her way over to the table and bent down to pick up several of the bottles only to knock them down to the floor instead.

Julian at least was sober... mostly, and hurried over to keep her from trying to pick them up. She would only end up face first on the floor, he thought, as he took her gently by the arm and guided her back to her room.

When they were inside she looked up at him and let out a giggle.

"What are you laughing at? Those people showed up and made a mess in our apartment, and didn't bother to stick around to help clean it up."

"Julian... Shepard showed us naughty vids," she let out a giggle again and leaned in to whisper...well not really whisper since she was talking even louder than normal, "they were of her and Nijus...Nelus...uh.."

"Nihlus?" He could barely hold in his own laugh at her drunken attempt at speech.

"Yeah, him. They were naked and doing... _it_ ", she nodded her head, "they looked like they were having fun." She shook her head then wobbled, almost falling over. "Fun, like they liked it."

"Hmm, maybe they did like it, Sara. They seemed to care for each other and they are mated. If they didn't like "doing it" I doubt either one would have agreed to become a mated pair."

She blinked up at him owlishly, "mated?"

He helped her to sit on her bed then knelt down to remove her shoes. "Yes, in turian culture, being mated is a long term relationship, but being someone's bond-mate is permanent, it goes much deeper than your human's marriages. No divorce. That word doesn't even exist in my culture."

"You have to stay married? What if they are like Harry?" She let out a yawn and he held her shoulders as she laid down and curled up on her bed, tucking her hands under the pillow.

He covered her with a light throw, "that form of abuse is so very rare with my people, Sara. We know the value of a bond-mate, we know for certain that the one we become mated with is the one we want to be with for the rest of our lives, before we take the step to bond with them. It is not something to rush, to go into if there is any doubt."

Her eyes closed, "I don't think I could do that. Harry was bad enough, to have to be married for life..." he glanced down at her when her words trailed off. She had fallen asleep. He leaned down and brushed her hair over to the side.

"I would bond with you, Sara. Even though you are human, I know you are the one I want to be with for the rest of my life." He nuzzled her temple then quietly shut her bedroom door behind him as he headed for his own room. The mess could wait till he woke up.

 

* * *

 

Julian was as quiet as he could be when he woke and started to clean the mess from the day before. After he peeked into Sara's room and saw she was still asleep, he sent a quick note off to Thane letting him know that she would probably not be in for her shift later as she had binged pretty bad the night before.

He had just tied the last of the bags to take out to the incinerator when he heard a groan coming from her room. His mandibles flicked and he opened the refrigerator door. Earlier a package had arrived from Shepard, by the looks of it the female one, that contained a small canister. The note attached to it read to give it to her when she woke up, it was a human's hangover cure.

After opening it up and running a small sample through a scanning app and seeing it didn't contain any type of drug or poison, he did a quick internet search and located the ingredients, all of them came up as an old remedy for humans that had drank too much. He heard another groan and carried it into her room after giving a soft knock.

"I'm dying, Julian. My head is splitting, my mouth feels like it's stuffed with old socks and my stomach feels like it was set on fire."

He gave a very soft chuckle, "that is what happens when you over indulge. Here let me help you up, this was sent over and is supposed to help you humans when you do that."

She rolled over to her back and he helped her into a sitting position, very carefully flitting his mandible against her jaw in affection before he nuzzled her messy hair and handed her the drink. "I'll be out in the other room finishing up. If you need me just call out."

A short while later he heard the shower start in the bathroom and quickly finished up the cleaning.

He tried not to laugh as she shuffled out of her room , headed for the kitchen and grabbed a small bar from a box, practically shoving the entire thing in her mouth.

"Never again, Julian, not if it means waking up to feeling like this. What do people see in doing that?"

He shrugged, "don't know. Now and again a few drinks aren't so bad, but not binders like you did."

She moaned and dropped her head to his carapace. "How am I going to be able to work like this?"

He wrapped his arms around her, "don't worry, I already talked with Thane, he said it was fine to take the afternoon off to recover. There wasn't much going on at the store today, apparently." She only gave a slight grunt before hugging him and shuffling back to her room.

 

* * *

 

Julian was sitting at his desk, reviewing the latest reports from the last bombing when a notice came in to report to the Captain's office.

He pushed to entry chime and the door slid open.

"Patrus, have a seat. We've got some new intel on those bombings. Just came in from a reliable source." Bailey tapped a few keys on a holo keyboard and an image popped up. "This image was taken and sent along with some data files. The composition of the residue from that last bombing is an exact match to what is being stored and then assembled at this location. Now before you open your mouth, no, we can't do anything about it or go there and bust it up. It's way out of C-Sec jurisdiction. The site is being monitored and the informant has assured me that if any of this stuff is moved we'd be notified immediately, so we can be on the lookout for a cargo ship from that area."

"Who is this informant? How do you know he or she isn't in on it?"

Bailey let out a bark of laughter, "he isn't. I trust him and I know him. He's been doing this longer than you have been in C-Sec, he's proven reliable."

Julian looked at him then flicked his mandibles. "Why is this intel just now getting to us? We've had three bombings in under a year, two more before that."

"From what he said, this has been under the radar the entire time. He was on a different assignment when this was stumbled on and investigated. As soon as he was sure it was connected to what was happening here, he gave us the intel."

"At least it's something. It's more than what we had, maybe we can actually catch these bastards soon."

After he left, Shepard and Nihlus walked into the room from the observation area. "Thanks for keeping our names out of it, Bailey. If he knew the intel came from us he probably would have been suspicious of it and possibly ignored it. He still doesn't trust us to be helping and not just some unknown pretenders."

"No worries, Shepard. I trust that intel and like he said it's more than we had before. How did you and the Spectre find this shit anyway?"

Shepard pulled out a chair and sat while Nihlus leaned against the wall, "we were tracking something to do with the girlfriend of his, one of our clients. She's still being harassed and was attacked, we had to tell Julian about us. He's mistrustful, even though Etarn is one of our contacts. That bastard ex-husband of Sara's is somehow involved in this mess, we just don't know how or how deeply or even why this is happening. Although... one of the messages that was sent to her sort of hinted at racism. It's possible it is just because they are xenophobes, after all it was mainly the non human centric areas that have been hit."

"True enough, Shepard, but the human casualties are still pretty damn high from it. Those centers and businesses were heavily multi cultural." Bailey leaned back in his chair. "Just keep us in the loop on this, Shepard. So far nothing has popped up on the scans for the two people you are looking for, I'm guessing they are connected to his mess and Patrus' new love interest?"

"Yep. Tenacious bastard, we're still trying to figure out what he's playing at and why he won't leave her be. Normally things don't get this far, even with the more possessive partners. We are fairly certain though that Sara isn't involved in this bombing mess, probably doesn't even know just how far that bastard is." He let out a sigh and stood up, "whelp, best get a move on. The others should be up and about now, even though they are probably wishing they were dead... back to work. See you again soon, Bailey."

 

* * *

 

"Hey there, beautiful. Feeling any better?"

Sara smiled as she looked at Julian on the holo screen, "feeling much better, thank you. That was an extremely stupid thing I did last night."

He hummed, "but you enjoyed your time with them, though, right?"

She gave him an even larger smile, "yes, I can't remember the last time I spent hanging out with friends and doing girly things together without worrying about not being home on time, not having dinner made, or the house cleaned or... well, you get the idea."

"I do, Sara. I just hope they don't make a habit of just showing up and messing up the place."

She gave a short laugh and nodded, all but the mess in her bedroom was completely cleaned up by him before he left to go to work and even now his thoughtfulness surprised her sometimes.

"Sara, the reason I called is that we just got some intel on the case I'm heading up. I'm going to be late tonight and probably won't be able to pick you up from the range. Etarn can walk you home, if you want him too. I'll be home as soon as I can though, make sure to lock up."

They spoke a few minutes more before he said he had to get back to work.

 

* * *

 

Etarn looked over the readout on Sara's latest visit to the range. There was vast improvement on her skills. When she was done using the heatsink cooler and returned to the counter, he showed her the reports and she was amazed.

"Well, Sara, you about ready for your purchase? Julian told me you prefer the Edge III and what mods that you felt comfortable with. If you want we can start the paperwork for you. It will take about 2 weeks for the Citadel approval and get your data added to their database. Another week after that to get the weapon sent here with the mods installed. I'm sure Julian would want to check it over completely... even though I do that for each one anyway, before he lets you use it on the range."

Sara chewed her bottom lip, she wasn't exactly sure that she wanted a gun of her own. Julian had more than enough for a small army. But he was extremely careful on their storage. He had apologized profusely but told her that he didn't feel comfortable with adding her to the gun locker security system. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was more like the weapons in there were powerful and modded for him. He had told her when she was ready he would make sure she had a safety cabinet of her own.

"Alright, it would be easier on both Julian and myself, save him from having to cart it here for me before he goes to work."

Etarn just smiled at her, knowing full well that Julian didn't mind in the least. "Here's your paperwork. Just fill it out while I place the order. I'll set it up on timed payment plan and what do you know, I'm having a one day sale on that particular weapon modded just like that."

Sara let out a laugh as Etarn smiled at her.

 

* * *

 

"Ok, you're all set. If you give me about an hour I can get all this done and walk you home."

"It's alright, Etarn. I can get there on my own. Shepard said he still had some people around and no one has seen Harry or that other creep anywhere on the Citadel. I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll see you for dinner tomorrow night?"

"If you're sure, Sara. Dinner, tomorrow night. There is this great new dual chirality restaurant that just opened up at the other end of the ward. Several of my customers have raved about it. I'll pick you and Julian up at the usual time."

He walked her to the door and locked it up after she left. He sent a quick note to let Julian know she was on the way home and had opted to walk alone.

Julian grimaced as he read the message, but like Nihlus had said, they needed to let her live a normal life and that meant having to let her make her own decisions. That Etarn had also assured him that Shepard still had watchers on her case helped... some.

He sent off a short message to her letting her know to be careful and stay alert, that he would be home shortly with some Tai food for her and the equivalent in Turian for himself and to let him know she made it.

Sara smiled at the message that came to her omni tool, he was trying so hard to be protective but not smother her. She let out a small chuckle and sent a reply before stepping into the mass transit vehicle that had just pulled up.

 

* * *

 

After pushing the button to alert the VI for the next stop she waited at the door, a large smile still on her face as she thought about all the things she had done the day before. Her cheeks turning a slight red when the thoughts of that vid playing and her imagining what it would be like to be her and Julian, flitted through her mind. She had been thinking about ... _that_ , a lot lately. Maybe it was time to let him know she would like to take their relationship a bit further. She let out a small giggle and hurried through the open transport door.

She walked down the path and had just reached the, now closed market, when she felt someone grab her from behind. She tried to scream only the hand over her mouth muffled it. Her mind went blank for a second before Thane's teachings kicked in, the martial arts might have been ones taught to children but they were, by all accounts, much more advanced that was was taught to most humans.

She used her elbows, feet and hands to hit, kick and pinch. When the hand loosened and the man behind her yelled, she bit down, hard, the taste of blood in her mouth and she spit as she whirled out of the now slack grip. She didn't think about it, her leg came up in a kick to the stomach, her hands and knees went into action and she grimaced when she heard the crunch of bones. She went to make a final kick to incapacitate when she felt someone strike her from behind. She started falling when she thought she heard someone yell, "fucking shit eating bastards" and a bluish purple light flew up around her and another blast of biotic light blew the men backwards.

"You fuckers want to take on a woman, you bitches bit off more than you can chew when I got here."

Sara blinked and tried to focus though the pain in her head at the woman that was standing before her, screaming at the retreating figures and sending out another shockwave that sent the trashcans and small potted plants flying in all directions.

The barrier dropped and she heard the strange woman placing a call to Shepard and Mordin. She let out a sigh of relief... Consortium. She blinked when she saw the tattooed woman up close, her hair shaved along the sides but in a ponytail that ended at her shoulders. She was wearing what looked like white gauze bandages wrapped around her breasts and waist and she had on what looked like red leather pants and matching combat boots.

"You did pretty damn good holding your own against those fuckers. We can't stay here, get your ass up and move, we got to get you to the Doc. That was a nasty sucker punch you took to the head. Motherfucking cowardly shit." She reached out and grunted as she helped Sara to her feet. "Name's Jack. Let's get our asses out of here before your fucking C-Sec boyfriend shows up and makes a fucking scene."

She couldn't help herself, she let out a snorting laugh, here they were in the middle of a mostly turian area, two human woman that made enough noise yelling, shouting profanity and biotically throwing stuff, and this small, tattooed whirlwind thought it would be Julian that made a scene.

 

* * *

 

Shepard and Nihlus stood outside the clinic's room going over everything again with Jack.

"Fucking huge elcor was standing in my usual spot outside the cafe. Bastard didn't look like he was gonna be moving anytime soon, so I had to go down to the fucking alley beside the shoe store. Watched her get off the transport and walk toward the market, this fucker slinks out from behind one of the closed stalls and grabs her. She starts to fuck him up, like our badass Monk showed her, and this other fucker comes up and hits her in the back of the head with something. By this time I'm close enough to toss up a barrier and send out shockwaves. I followed what you fucking said, stick with the client, even though I would have rather chased the motherfuckers and shoved my hand up their asses and pulled their brains from the puckered hole." She stopped to take a drink of water, "I called you guys and got her the hell out of there and to Doc as fast as I could."

Shepard nodded, "you did good, Jack. Did you get a look at the men that did this? Were they the ones we're after or just some dumb asses from the streets."

"I dunno. I think the one that hit her was her ex though, fucking cowardly bastard."

"Alright, head on back to the Consortium apartments, you're back on duty tomorrow night."

"Yeah, I will, just want to stick around long enough to make sure she's alright. Man you should have seen her kick that bastard's ass." Jack gave him a grin and leaned back against the wall.

Shepard smiled and remembered how, when he first encountered Jack, he wasn't so sure she would fit in. Her biotics were off the chart for a human, but she was rough, scarred and hated the galaxy. It took a while to get through to her, to see she could help ones like her that couldn't always help themselves. She balked, then it all changed one night when she ran into a man who was beating a woman with belt after raping her in an alley. Jack reacted and killed the guy and for some reason called him instead of running. She had been with the Consortium ever since.

Etarn came running through the door followed by Thane. Shepard filled them in with a shorter, less profanity filled update and watched as Thane gave Jack a short bow and sat on a chair, Etarn on the other hand paced and muttered.

"You know Julian is going to hit the roof about this." Nihlus said to Shepard in a low voice.

"I know, just have to hope with Etarn and Thane here things won't get out of hand. At least until Mordin is done and he hears she'll be alright."

He let out a short groan as Julian came blasting through the door, his mandibles flared and his hands curled up into fists. Etarn tried to stop him but was pushed aside. Shepard knew it was coming and braced for the blow.

"You said you could protect her. You said she would be safe. She was attacked on your watch." Julian yelled at him and brought his arm back to deliver another blow to the human when it was caught in a firm grip.

"Enough. She was protected and is safe."

"Get your damn hand off me. You're the one that said she needed space. You're the one that said she didn't need me hovering. Look what happened. Where the hell were you? Where the hell was this so called protection that let the bastards get to her, put their filthy hands on her."

"Her protection is right fucking here, you turian bastard. She was in the middle of the fucking market square, if you fuckers would put your shit away at night I would have had a better fucking view. She was kicking that bastard's ass before I was able to get around all the turian fucking statues and shit your people have sitting every fucking place."

Julian whirled looking for the person who was yelling and saw a small human woman standing behind him. His mandibles flicked out and he went to say something else when she blazed with a biotic light stronger than even the asari that was on his team.

"Julian, she was using the fighting skills that I taught her to defend herself and from all accounts she was doing so admirably. It wasn't until a second person came into the equation that she became over powered, but was rescued. Do not discount her ability when you see her. She needs to know she still has her own strength."

"We have the rest of the team out looking now, except for Jack here, she wants to stay to make sure Sara is alright. Since Sara seemed to have broken one of their noses if not more, they will need to hunt for some medical care. We have all of the clinics and hospitals already staked out. The Doc is in with Sara now." Shepard rubbed his jaw and wiggled it making sure it wasn't broken. The turian packed a hell of a punch.

Julian growled and yanked his arm from Nihlus' grasp before hitting the wall and pacing.

Nihlus looked at Shepard, who only shook his head, and went back to leaning against the wall.

A short time later Mordin came out, "Sara is doing fine. Keeping her overnight for observation. Blow received to back of head. A slight fracture, repaired it. Blows on back of head of humans can have side effects. Reason for observation. Also repaired abrasions and bruising on hands and elbows from her repeated blows in defending herself. Well done, Thane. Gave her antiviral medication in case of infection cause by her biting the attacker hard enough to break through skin and tissue. She requested to see Jack and Shepard. Also Thane and Julian. Quick visits only, must give more medication. Sleep does wonders for the human body."

Jack and Shepard went in first. He assured her that they were out trying to find the men and she told him that the man that grabbed her was the one from the old clinic, the one that had followed her before. She didn't see the one that hit her from behind.

"It was probably your ex. We are searching the clinics, hospitals and even the pharmacies in case they try to self heal that broken nose you gave him. Get some rest and I'll contact you in a day or so with an update." Shepard patted her arm carefully before heading for the door.

"Thanks for rescuing me, Jack."

The biotic just shrugged, "yeah well, it's what I do I guess. You didn't look like you would need rescuing from that bastard though, you were kicking his ass." She grinned at the woman lying in the bed.

Sara let out a small laugh, "yeah, surprised the hell out of myself. I don't know, it just...my body just reacted when I was attacked."

Jack nodded, she understood that part really well. "Yeah. Listen, I better run before Doc gets his panties in a twist."

Sara gave the woman a smile and nod before she walked out. Thane and Julian came in right afterward, Etarn poked his head in and after seeing her smile and wave he waved back and stumbled. "No extra visitors. Wait until she is released. If you try that again you'll be the one in a hospital bed." The salarian's voice was heard in the hall as the door closed.

Thane bent down and kissed her cheek lightly, Julian growled but Thane paid no attention. "I am glad you were not seriously hurt. The Emporium is closed for the next few days so do not concern yourself with work. I will be joining the search for these two men, and we will find them, Sara."

She gripped his green scaled hand, "be careful, Thane, and thank you. If it wasn't for your training, I don't know what might have happened."

He raised his eye ridge, "do not be concerned for me, Sara, these men are cowards and it is about time they were stopped. You did the work, Sara, you listened, learned and trained very hard and I am very proud to have taught you, proud to know that the training I had received has been turned into something for a better cause, that I have helped in some small way." He squeezed her hand before leaving the room.

Julian stood by her bedside for a minute trying to get his temper under control. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted those people. I should have been there and kept you safe. They must have been watching for a while to know what transit you used and your schedule. How did they know you would be alone tonight? Where the hell are they hiding and how the hell did they find you."

"Julian, it wasn't their fault. We both knew that Harry was still out there somewhere. They had someone close by. If it was anyones it was mine for not wanting to put Etarn through having to come with me. I wasn't paying attention. Thane and you told me to watch my surroundings, to be careful and pay attention and I wasn't. I let my mind wander."

Julian let out a sigh, "how could it be your fault. We are the ones that are supposed to watching out for you."

"I was too busying thinking about something else and not where I was going, I need to be responsible for myself too, Julian. Not just depend on others for my own safety."

His mandibles fluttered and he leaned over her. "Promise me you'll be more careful. I wasn't joking that I can't be without you, Sara."

She stroked his face and looked into his eyes, "I don't want to be without you either, Julian."

His amber eyes blinked at her and his mandibles fluttered, "Sara?" He whispered her name and she tugged him closer, her lips meeting his mouth plates as her hands stroked him and encountered the spot she had found shortly after they started to get serious about each other. That soft spot under his fringe that caused him to shudder and groan when her fingers massaged it.

Neither one heard the door open. "Sexual exertion not recommended until fully healed. Must ask you to stop. Visiting time is over. Come back tomorrow afternoon for patient release. Recommend one more night of rest before normal activities are resumed. If you are in need of more creams or lotions I can forward you another prescription."

Julian jerked away from her and Sara turned beet red when Mordin came hustling through the door.

"I'll be back to pick you up." He bent down and brushed his crest on her forehead before standing up and leaving.

"Relations with a turian uncommon, but not unheard of. Sending you brochures on safe and comfortable positions for you both. Be sure to apply the cream to your inner thighs before sexual contact with Patrus. Also recommend use of prophylactics, pregnancy and disease exchange not possible, but will alleviate chance of reaction to his bodily fluids."

Sara didn't think she could get redder than she was. Mordin's speech proved she was wrong.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy and I'm sorry for the long wait.
> 
> Hope you like the new chapter and please forgive any grammar, punctuation or spelling mistakes. No proofreader for this story and I've tried my best to improve and catch any errors. Thanks.

* * *

 

 

The medication that Mordin gave to her made sure she slept through the night. When she awoke the salarian was by her bedside running another scan. He gave her a slight smile and told her that her vital signs were stable and it seemed that she would have no adverse affects from the blow to her head. She breathed out a sigh of relief. He handed her a small tray and raised the head of the bed so she could eat before being released.

"Patrus has called several times. Informed him that you will be released in a few hours. He dropped off fresh clothing for you. It is in that bag on the chair. Feel free to avail yourself of the shower. Once you are done eating I will go over the signs to watch for in case of delayed problems. Be sure to contact me if any arise. You did very well, Sara," he patted her forearm before he bustled out of the room.

Sara ate and showered as quickly as she could before calling Julian. He arrived minutes later, she smiled and gave her head a slight shake as she realized he must have been right outside the clinic waiting for her call.

Mordin transferred the document over to her omni tool along with his contact information. He wished them well and assured them that he was also monitoring all the chatter at the local clinics for any information about males with broken noses and injuries that matched with ones that would have been inflicted by her.

Julian took her gently by the elbow and led her out of the clinic. His eyes scanned the area for anything that looked out of place. Searched the faces of the human males that they saw. He looked for ones that matched the description of either of the males that were after Sara.

When they made it back to their apartment he glanced around again then hurried her inside. She let out another groan as he instructed her on yet another security system he had installed overnight to their door. "Julian... did you even sleep at all last night?"

"How could I sleep, Sara? You had been attacked and hurt within walking distance of our home. I had been working clear across the Ward when I should have been walking you home." His voice had gone from soft concern to the growl of disgust that he sometimes gave when he was working on a case and had brought it home with him. "If they were that close then they could also know where you live. I will do whatever I can to give you a safe place."

She laid a hand on his arm after they had finally gotten past the retinal scans, the voice match and the fingerprint devices and made it into their home.

"Julian, enough is enough with the systems. Every time I have been attacked it was outside of where I lived. You have this place already well guarded, and honestly, it was a pain in the ass to try and get through the old system with a bunch of grocery bags in my hands, now it's going to be darn near impossible to do without putting the bags down first."

He looked at her; his bright, amber eyes stared into hers, and he let out a huff. "Alright, no more systems outside the apartment, but there is one..."

"Julian!" She threw up her hands and headed for the bedroom.

He followed a minute later and dropped the bag that had her clothes from yesterday in it on the floor before he sat on the bed. He watched her turn her terminal on to send a message to Thane letting him know that she was home and to download the next set of assignments for business school before he started to fidget.

Sara looked over at him and raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't you be heading to work?"

"No. I called Bailey and told him I was taking a personal day, which was unusual enough. Even more unusual was he didn't argue, cuss me out or question me about it. Just said alright and report tomorrow. So we have the day together and can do whatever you want. As long as you tell me if you get tired and need to rest."

"I feel fine, Julian. Mordin told me everything was stable. You didn't need to miss work just to sit and watch me do some homework."

He gave her a half-hearted shrug. "Do you think maybe you can do your homework a bit later? We can watch some vids or the news together. We haven't gone over to Venus' sandwich shop recently for lunch. Etarn is taking us to that new dual chirality restaurant for dinner tonight."

"Hmm. I really need to get this done. How about if I get several of the small assignments finished first then we can go out for a sandwich and come back. I'll finish up then we can snuggle on the couch and watch a vid when we get back from dinner."

He fidgeted a bit more, and she raised her eyebrow.

"What is it, Julian? Something's has you bothered."

"I... uh, was sorta hoping that, umm... maybe we could watch the vid in my room?" He cleared his throat, and his mandibles fluttered.

She blushed and saw the hide on the side of his neck start to darken as well.

"We don't have to take it any further than just sitting together and watching the show. Not that I wouldn't mind taking things further... you know... if you want-" Julian cleared his throat again then rubbed the back of his neck. Sara only blushed harder, she twisted her hands then grabbed her terminal and headed out the bedroom door.

Julian heaved a sigh and started quietly swearing.

 

* * *

 

Shepard typed away furiously on his holo-keyboard. He was pissed because somehow, someway, those bastards have constantly been able to slip through his net. There was a hole somewhere in the system, something that they have overlooked that was enabling them to bypass the facial recognition software that all of the ward entrances had. Since the ward that Sara and Julian lived on was different than the one she had lived on during the first attack, Shepard was certain someone was messing with the software. He was damn sure it wasn't one of his people, and he was doubly damn sure it wasn't his software that was the problem.

Someone in either C-Sec was helping these bastards, or they had a problem with someone with a high enough level security clearance that they could bring them on and bypass the normal immigration means. And he had a gut feeling that same person was also involved in the bombings that were happening on the Citadel. From the vid feeds that Kryik and his sister showed him, someone with leverage was capable of bringing in large containers of the stuff right under C-Sec's noses.

"Dahlia? Patch me through to Alpha squad leader on a secure, private channel."

Shepard heard a click then pushed a small holo button that popped up a small inset on the screen with a voice feed showing.

"Alpha leader, report," Shepard growled out as he continued to type on the keyboard trying to find whatever he had missed before.

"Subjects one and two on Shalta ward. Visuals confirmed. No sign of enemy targets, weapons and signature explosive scans clear. Updated facial recognition program loaded and running. Teams B and C have both regular exits covered on the ward. Skycar terminals are being watched, same with the public transit areas." Garrus gave his report quickly without removing his eyes from the vicinity.

"And the side project? Any data yet?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. After this shift I have a few more tests to run, though they aren't common. I was reading some of those old detective novels that Kasumi brought to the ship and it gave me some ideas to try and it shouldn't hurt the item."

Shepard let out a grunt. "Alright, let me know the results. Who do we have on night duty at the safe house?"

"Jack and the new guy, Terrik. Massani is running a trace on a few things that we found where subject one was attacked. It didn't look like anything that a turian would use and nothing that subject one would know about. Sending you a preliminary scan and data findings."

Shepard glanced up at the screen and tapped on a flashing icon. "How's the new guy working so far? Is he Alpha squad material or do I send him to one of the others?"

"No complaints so far. I'm still trying to wrap my head around having a batarian on my squad, let alone one that's mated to a human." Garrus gave his head a small shake.

Shepard snorted. "Terrik was one of those breakaways from the Hegemony rulership. I couldn't believe it when I got a call from Aria to, 'get my human ass to Omega and get this stupid batarian before he ends up dead and not just hiding in Mordin's old clinic'. And there he was, a pistol gripped in his shaking hand and that young woman behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist as if she wouldn't ever let him go."

"Yeah, I remember snarling at the poor guy to let her go and him saying that no one was going to take her from him, that no one was going to ever to hurt her again. I think my mandibles about dropped to the floor that day."

"Your mandibles and my jaw, buddy. Have Jack keep an eye on him tonight, this is the first major assignment he's been on after his training. If he can't handle it I need to know, those are the rules."

"Copy that, boss. Subjects one and two are on the move. They are walking towards the market plaza, looks like they are heading back home."

"Alright, keep on them. Shepard, out."

Shepard sent a scrambled request over the comm to the team he had currently stationed near the small colony where his sister and her mate found the weapons and explosive stash. As he waited for a reply he sent another one to Legion asking how long it would take for him to get back to the Citadel, he needed the geth to go over the software programs again. He was missing something and Tali hadn't found anything yet either and needed him there instead of doing extractions.

"Shepard-John, I can be there in 10 Citadel standard hours after a replacement is located and ready. Extraction of subjects BT-345 A and B is set to go in 15 Earth minutes."

"Alright, get those two to safety, and I'll have a replacement extractor meet you at the secondary stop point."

"Acknowledged."

Shepard pulled up a listing of available personnel on Earth and sent a message to one of them with the scrambled identifier code then he sent a matching one to Legion. He could only hope that Joker didn't drive Vega crazy with his bad jokes and sarcastic comments.

 

* * *

 

Garrus let out a huff of exasperation. He's tried everything he could think of to find anything wrong with the locket and nothing has worked. Maybe this thing was just a plain pendant after all and something else was causing that bastard to not want to let go of Sara.

He looked up as he heard someone come into the room where he was working.

Kasumi stood there with a giant bowl of noodles and was eating them using two sticks. "Hey, Garrus, what you got there?" Garrus' mandibles flicked as he watched her for a moment and wondered how she could do that before he blinked and picked up the locket.

"The one client that we're having problems with, Sara, she brought this with her when she ran. Shepard had given permission, but he now thinks this may be the link in figuring out why that loser ex of her's won't leave her be. She said it was an heirloom, passed down over a couple of generations."

"Uh-huh, that thing isn't more than four or five years old. That's not an heirloom. It's a damn good replica, but it's fake."

"What? How can you tell? I ran a dating app and it came back as reading hundreds of years old."

"Hello? Professional procurer of treasures and shiny baubles here, and I'm telling you that's a fake." She sat down at the table and pushed her bowl of ramen to the side before holding out her hand. "Here, let me see it."

After she had it in her hand she snorted. "No weight at all, real silver weighs a lot. There's the first tip off. The second is this thing hasn't been polished before. Silver needs to be polished with a particular chemical compound to keep its luster and protect it from tarnishing. There's no smell of that or any slight residue left on the locket or chain."

She turned it over and ran her fingers over the engravings on the back then used a thumbnail to open it up. Inside were two tiny holos. One of a much older woman and on the other side a baby in the arms of another. "Hmm. Well, these holos are genuine so there must have been an heirloom locket at some point, but now that I know who this belongs to, that ex dirtbag she was married to probably pawned it a long time ago. Tell me what other tests you have run on this thing."

Kasumi kept fingering the locket as Garrus listed off everything he had tried. He paused as he saw her full mouth draw down into a frown as she once more rubbed her thumb over the engravings.

"There's something here. I can feel it, but I can't make out what it is." After another few minutes she laid the locket on the table and used her omni tool to run an ultraviolet light over it. Areas of blue lit up.

"What in the name of the Spirits is that?"

Kasumi grinned. "Humans used a compound a long, long time ago to send hidden messages or to make hidden symbols on things. One form of ink could be made visible using an acidic mixture then heating it up. Another form used ink only reactive to a certain type of strong ultraviolet light so that you could be outside in the sun and it wouldn't be visible, but using a special light source, it would react and show blue.

"Can you tell what it says?"

Kasumi ran the light over it again. "Looks like numbers. What we need is something that we can use to see the entire surface of the locket lit up at once and held there, then maybe blown up to see it better."

"Shepard called in Legion; he'll be here later tonight. I'll tell him about this and have him figure out a way. Thanks, Kasumi. I'll send Shepard a heads up on what you found out."

"Sure it was no problem, let me know if you need anything. I'll be on the Citadel for another week before Shep wants me to head on over to Beckenstein. There's a secure vault that has something that belongs to a friend and Shep wants it back."

 

* * *

 

"Ultraviolet light ink?" Shepard asked as he rubbed his forehead. "Where in the hell did they find that at?"

"I'm still trying to figure out what the hell it is. When Legion gets here to let him know, and hopefully, he can come to a consensus and figure it out."

"Good work, Garrus. I'll send a thank you to Kasumi as well. Should have brought her in as soon as I suspected that piece of jewelry. Ultraviolet ink... Gods that's really old school."

 

* * *

 

Etarn was solicitous to Sara all night and seemed to be as overly cautious as Julian was with her safety.

"You two are driving me nuts, tonight. Please just stop. I doubt they will do anything so soon anyway, so let's just enjoy our dinner alright?"

Both males agreed, and they settled down and began to talk and enjoy themselves. Only once in awhile did they look up and glance around.

 

* * *

 

Sara was a bit nervous on the walk back to their apartment. Julian hadn't brought up sharing time in his room again and she didn't know how to broach the subject with him. She had been so flustered when he had suggested watching a show in there instead of in the living room. It's not like she hadn't been thinking about getting closer... much closer to him. She had actually been thinking about it a lot recently and those vids just caused a tingly feeling in her core when she thought about them. She would often wake with her panties soaked and a deep ache inside her. Maybe it was time, she certainly felt ready to move on with her life, being with Julian was all she ever thought about in that way.

She gave a slight nod at her thoughts and her lips set with determination. _Yep. Tonight. Tonight I'm going to do it. Tonight we are going to do it, and I have a feeling I'm going to like it._

They said goodnight to Etarn and after several minutes of fumbling with the security system they got in the door.

Sara told him she was going for a shower while he reset the system. She hurried through to her room and stood in front of her open panty drawer trying to figure out which set to wear with that satin nightie and robe set she had bought during her girls day out. She pulled out the red pair then quickly rolled them back up and tucked them into the small cubby then pulled out the white pair of lace and silk then put those back as well. Finally she settled on the sky blue lace thong and hurried into the bathroom to get ready.

 

* * *

 

Spirits, she was going to kill him.

Julian tried not to stare at Sara as she came out of the bathroom with her hair piled up on her head and falling about with untidy ringlets here and there. And that robe; it clung to her every curve. The belt was tied at her waist and accentuated the smallness of her waist and the slight flaring out of her hips and those magnificent breasts he had moved his hands on before, but had yet to see or taste.

She slid into one of the kitchen chairs and began to work on her assignments. For several minutes Julian watched her and not the broadcast on the holo-screen, lost in a few different fantasies. He snapped out of it when he felt his plates shift slightly.

"I'm going to get my own shower, I'll turn off the screen so the noise doesn't bother you."

He heard her say "mmm hmm" before he closed the bedroom door and leaned against it for a second to calm his body and get his plates under control.

Julian came back out a while later and wore a set of turian designed nightclothes, even though he usually slept naked since it was more comfortable. He poured himself a cup of kava and sat at the table with her.

Time seemed to tick by slowly before he started to twist his cup around in a circle.

"Sara?"

She looked up from her portable terminal. "Hmm? What is it, Julian?"

"About what I said earlier, about watching some things in my room. Don't worry about it; I shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry." He took a sip of the drink so he'd shut up and not make a bigger fool of himself.

"So you don't want to watch the shows later?"

He started to cough and put his cup down. His amber eyes blinked as he looked at Sara and she gave him a small smile.

"Yeah... yeah, I do."

"Okay then, the sooner I can get this module done the sooner we can go watch a vid."

Julian kept shifting around and finally stood to rinse out his cup then hurried into his room wondering if he forgot to put away anything. He picked up his boots and put them in the closet then kicked the magazine he was "reading" up under the bed and fluffed the neck roll. He sat on the edge and turned on the holo-screen quickly moving the settings into privacy mode, so his extra channels were hidden and started to scroll through the menu looking for something.

A soft knock came at the door.

"Come on in."

Sara opened the door and peeked around it. "I've finished up, is it alright if I come in now?"

"Yeah sure, I was just trying to find something to watch."

Sara walked over to the bed with her pillow in her arms and set it on top of the neck roll. "Did you find anything good?"

"Maybe. How do you feel about watching an action vid?"

"That will work." She tugged the covers down and he moved to the other side of the bed. He stumbled when she dropped the robe she was wearing on the floor. She revealed a short, cream-colored satin sheath she had been wearing under it. He could see the outline of her breasts, her nipples were pushing against the fabric and he swallowed hard and got under the covers. He had to control himself or she might go back to her own room.

The vid started, and he tried to pay attention to it, but his head kept turning toward her.

Sara tried to keep her mouth from twitching and turning her own head each time she spotted him looking at her. She knew he didn't invite her in here to just watch a vid, he had made it clear how he felt about her, but he deserved a bit of punishment for adding those extra things on the door and for the hovering he did. Not too much punishment though. She could feel her body heat up and the tingly feeling in her core started. She shifted her thighs together slightly; trying to stop it from getting too bad as she thought about what was going to happen in just a bit.

Julian's nose wiggled as he caught the different scent coming from her. It was musky, and he knew it well, that was the smell of her arousal pheromones and they seemed to be getting stronger. He looked over at her again and saw her teeth worry her lower lip, and he flicked his mandibles.

She let out an impatient huff of air. "Oh, the hell with it!" She twisted toward him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt then pulled. Her lips crashed against his mouth plates and his talons tangled in her hair. The vid was completely forgotten.

She moaned as his tongue slid into her mouth and his palm slid up her satin covered waist to gently cup and squeeze her breast while one of his fingers rubbed the fabric over her nipple. Her hand moved up his neck as stroked before she pressed her fingers against the un-plated, sensitive area that was under his fringe.

His mandibles flicked as she moved to kiss his neck and slightly nip at it as he groaned. "Sara? Sara, are you sure? You're driving me crazy, female. I need to hear you say it, I need to hear you say you want me, that you want this and that you want to be my mate."

Sara slid her tongue along his neck to up under his mandible before she answered him with a low, throaty, "Yes, to everything. You're the only one I want Julian, and I would love to be your mate."

He let out a growl and gripped her waist, she gave out a slight squeak as he tugged her to straddle his hips before he went back to kissing her. His hands smoothed up her sides and went back to massaging her breasts as hers slid along his cloth covered carapace trying to figure out how to get it off. She felt him give a chuckle and he leaned her back slightly.

"Here, there are small snaps." He guided her fingers to where the barely visible snaps were and showed her how to pop them open. It didn't take long for those small fingers of hers to work them all and begin to push the fabric from his shoulders. Within moments his shirt was gone and he had yanked up her nightgown and threw it to the other side of the room.

She covered her breasts with one arm while stroking along the hard lines of his collarbone and then down along the keel that ran down the center of his chest. She felt his chest vibrating and glanced up at him. He hadn't ever done that before.

"What you are feeling is a turian's way of telling their mate they are finding pleasure," Julian said to her as he groaned and tipped his head back. He could feel his plates softening even further and knew they would completely shift open soon.

His nose wiggled faster as he slowly reached for her arm and moved it to his other shoulder, so her breasts were bare to his gaze. The rumbling grew louder as his thumbs drew across their turgid peaks. His mandibles spread into a grin when she gasped and gave a slight shiver.

He lifted her slightly toward him and slowly lowered his head to nuzzle between her breasts, and he breathed deeply taking her scent into his lungs and knew he wouldn't ever tire of it. He wanted her for a bond-mate, his heart and instincts were telling him it was right, but for now being her mate would be enough. For now.

His long tongue snaked out and licked across a nipple, and she caught her breath on a gasp so he did it again and she groaned. She gave a tug on his fringe, and he raised his head to meet her tongue before twisting to lay her on the bed. He moved away only long enough to get rid of the pajama pants before going back for another soul searing kiss.

Her hands ran up his arms and across his back before she shifted and brought a leg up to his hip. He groaned and looked down her body before skimming over it with a three-fingered hand. His talons carefully slid across the lace of her panties. "I like these, but want them gone."

She giggled and nodded before lifting her hips and letting him slide them off her and toss them over his shoulder. He swallowed when he looked at her before flicking his eyes back to meet her's. He saw hesitancy enter them and he smiled. "You're perfect. Is it alright if we go further? Can I touch you?"

She nodded and stroked his mandible, and he kissed her as his fingers began to learn her. His moan as he felt the dewy moistness of her coating his finger, she arched her back when he found the tiny nub that Mordin's vids talked about and gave it a stroke before circling it and tapping slightly.

He slipped a thick finger into her and felt her tightness and eased back out then back in as she moaned and gasped, her hands moved along his shoulders and dug into the soft areas between his plates. As she arched into his touch again he lowered his head and took her nipple between his mouth plates and tugged gently causing her to cry out. He thrust his finger in deeper as her legs opened a bit more, over and over, pushing inside or circling that little pleasure button of hers, until she started to shake and her back bowed as she dug her head into the pillow and screamed his name. His finger thrust rapidly in and out as he felt her squeezing around it so tightly.

His plates shifted open, and he emerged, even without the seam being manipulated, just the feeling of the pleasure he gave her had been enough.

He nuzzled her forehead as she panted and laid back on the bed, the strokes of his fingers slowing before stopping

"Are you alright?" He kissed along her neck and felt the rapid beating of her heart.

"Yes, more than alright, Julian." She tugged his head up and started to kiss him again as she stroked and scraped her nails along his neck.

He shifted to lay between her legs and she jerked slightly when she felt his hard length slide along her center. His amber eyes met her startled ones and he eased back and pushed against her again, her eyes widened and she gasped. He placed his forehead against hers and moved her hand to touch him. He slid his entire length along her while pressing down with her palm against him.

"Sara?"

His mandibles fluttered as he did it again and she nodded. He pressed his forehead against hers harder, and she smelled a slightly heavy musk before he lifted from her and grabbed a small pot and packet from his nightstand. He quickly, but carefully applied cream to the inside her thighs before rolling the condom down on him.

He moved back between her legs and lifted her slightly, so her legs rested on his hips and began to stroke her, in and out and around as he waited for her eyes to close and her body start to react again. When her back arched, and her hips raised he lined himself up and carefully thrust into her tight sheath.

He stopped when she hissed then slid in further when she relaxed. He thought he would explode before he even got all the way inside her. The way her passage gripped him and the heat and softness was something so foreign, yet so very right, and he could barely contain himself. His finger moved to flick against that little nub and she moaned, he kept rubbing gently as he withdrew and thrust back in as her body opened to him and took him deeper with each thrust.

He hissed and gave a groan as her body started to flutter around him and he thrust harder and she cried out while gripping tightly to the sheets. He looked down at her and saw her body was covered with a thin film of sweat and her nipples were pebbled so hard they stood straight up. Her cheeks held the flush of arousal and he withdrew and thrust in harder as her breasts swayed and with one final hard thrust into her body he hilted.

"Mmm, Sara, are you ready for more?"

She panted as her passion filled gaze met his and she lifted her hips and ground against him. His mandibles fluttered, and he began to move, paying attention to her reactions with each easy or hard thrust. When he found the rhythm that caused her to moan the loudest he bent over her and began to nibble on her neck and shifted her legs higher around his waist.

"Sara," he moaned, his thrusts became erratic. "Spirits, I can't hold it any longer."

She tightened her legs around him, and he slammed in one last time before he started to swell inside her. He moaned as his release rolled over him and he pressed his forehead to hers, and the musky scent was released again before he gently kissed her.

He felt wetness on his mandible, and he looked at her, "Sara? Why are you crying? I didn't hurt you did I?"

She gave a slight laugh and shook her head, the tears still falling. "No, Julian. These are what humans call tears of happiness."

"I'm happy too, Sara." He nuzzled her once more before he carefully withdrew and went to use the bathroom to clean up. When he came back, she was snuggled under the cover with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. He turned out the lights and shut off the holo screen before he climbed in beside her and snuggled up next to her.

He hugged her when she whispered, "I love you, Julian."

"I love you too, Sara." His mandibles fluttered and ended up getting tangled in her hair and he didn't care in the least. She was in his arms, right where he wanted her to be and he vowed again to himself that he would do whatever he could to keep her safe and happy.

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the long wait. I do hope you enjoy this new chapter.

* * *

 

 

Legion entered the underground lab area and made its way over to the numbered room where Shepard, Garrus, and Kasumi were waiting.

Shepard stood staring at the projection on one of the walls that listed everything that had happened and all the knowledge that Kasumi could scrape up concerning the ink.

"Shepard-John, I received the data that you sent. I will run tests on the ink and will need time to develop a machine that will be able to read it and project it. We should then be able to begin investigating on what it means."

Shepard nodded and told Legion to direct any further questions to Garrus and Kasumi concerning anything to do with the locket. "I got your report on the latest extraction. They had to be moved to another safe house already. Subject B decided she didn't want to remain in the apartment until we deemed it safe and decided to go out clubbing. Someone followed her back, and it put not only her and her mother in danger but also Ms. Blake. Helena didn't like that at all. We just finished repairing her apartment after that junkie douchebag that her previous guest had run from found her and wrecked it, and now another cleanup crew has to go in to fix the door again. We are going to revise the protocols. After all these troubles we're having, we are going to have to crack down on where we take the people, they will have only one chance now not to screw up. We've lost too many helpers in the recent years, and it has to stop. The people need help, but they also need to realize that they must help themselves and have to accept the changes. If they can't or won't then, we really can't help them, and we can't justify putting our people in danger because of it."

"Understood. This unit followed current protocols as per the report and should have taken better care to iterate the consequences more clearly concerning the outcome of broken rules."

"Not your fault, Legion. Some humans are just like that; especially the younger ones. I'll let you get on with your work. Keep me informed," Shepard said as he patted the geth unit on the shoulder and gave the others a brief wave before leaving the room.

Garrus and Kasumi told Legion the rest of what they found and Kasumi brought it up to speed on what to look for and told it to take great care with the ink. If it's damaged, then the Intel could be rendered unintelligible, and there would be no way to repair it. The unit's flashlight head flickered as it dipped toward the floor and acknowledged the information. It moved to the side where the lab equipment and locket were waiting, and the others left him to work.

 

* * *

 

Sara came awake with the feeling of gentle tugging on her hair.

A grumble from Julian came from behind her as she felt more tugging and smiled as he mumbled about how human hair and mandibles don't mix. A few more minutes then the tugging stopped and she felt the bed shift as he rolled to the side. He gently put the covers back into place and caressed the back of her head before she felt him stand.

She rolled over and watched as he stretched. The play of muscles along his back over his carapace as he bent to pick up his pajama bottoms intrigued her. She sighed, and he glanced back at her.

"Good morning, Julian."

His mandibles flicked outward in a grin, "Good morning, I hope I didn't wake you," he said as he sat back down on the bed and leaned over to brush his crest on her forehead.

She grinned and shook her head, "No, you didn't, but where are you going so early?"

He chuckled then sighed, "I would much rather be staying in this bed with you, but I've got to go into work early today." He leaned over and pressed his crest against her again, and she smelled the musky scent and heard him sigh before he stood and went to get ready.

 

* * *

 

Julian stood in front of the kava vending machine with his mandibles spread in a grin and unable to keep his subharmonics from sounding out his happiness. He had received many questioning looks from several of the other turians that worked in his section, and they all shook their heads when they caught the scent of a female human mixed with his mating musk.

"Morning, Julian, you're here early today," Frank said as he scanned his omni tool over the panel on the levo drink dispenser.

He blinked when Julian didn't answer him and looked over to see Julian still standing there staring at the machine.

"Julian, hey Julian. What the hell is going on with you?"

Julian blinked rapidly and pickup up the rapidly cooling kava from the dispenser area. "Huh? Nothing," he said then hurried into his office.

Frank followed behind him and sat in the chair across from Julian and watched him carefully. Before long a huge grin spread across the human's face when he noticed how distracted Julian had become and how his eyes glazed over and mandibles flicked in a turian's grin. "Son of a bitch, you finally did it."

That snapped Julian out of whatever musing he was currently in at the moment. His hide darkened, and he made busy work arranging his datapads on his desk. "Did what? What are you going on about now?"

"You know damn well what, you finally had sex with your human girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? She's my mate, not a girlfriend," Julian said huffily.

Frank started laughing and shook his head. "She must have blown your mind because I've never seen you so distracted at work before." Frank grinned at him, but Julian wouldn't tell him anything, and Frank started to huff. "You're no fun if you won't give details." He tossed his cup into Julian's trash receptacle and stood. "Listen, while you were out yesterday we got a report of ramped up activity near another one of the multicultural centers. The Captain's had them all under surveillance, and this one's activity skyrocketed yesterday with the number of humans around. Facial recognition came back with no criminal matches, but that's not always accurate. We've checked to see if there are any programs or human-centric activities scheduled and there weren't any human-specific ones, but this place was chosen to host the commemoration of the end of the First Contact War. It's scheduled to happen in two weeks. There's going to be tons of turians, humans, and other species there. They're unveiling a new statue that's supposed to represent peace between our two species. It's going to be a prime target."

Julian stood up and moved toward the door. "I'll go see the Captain and get any details; then we'll take a trip to the center and see what we might be facing."

 

* * *

 

Sara yawned and stretched, her body ached, but she smiled when she remembered the previous night. Once she decided to drag herself out of Julian's bed, she got ready for the day and sent a message to Mordin with an update telling him that she had no lingering effects from her attack then sent another message to Thane to let him know that she would be into work later that afternoon. An automated message came back to her from his extranet mail address that contained a reminder that the shop was closed for several days for personal reasons. She sighed and hoped nothing happened to him, she knew he could take care of himself, but she was still worried.

After another hour she sent a message to Etarn and another to Julian to tell them that she was going to the range.

Julian at first told her to wait until that night when he could get home, then a few minutes later he sent an apology and told her just to be careful but to wait for him there until after work so they could go home together.

 

* * *

 

Shepard turned on his terminal and waited for the security measures to run before activating an uplink to his sister's ship.

"Shepard? Jane is scouting the area," Nihlus said as he divided his attention between the screen with Shepard on it and the vid view from Jane Shepard's helmet cam.

"Kryik, I just received an update from Bailey. He said there had been a noticeable increase in activity around the center where the Council is planning the First Contact War Peace Commemorative is happening. Have you or my sister noticed anything?"

Nihlus' attention centered on Shepard and his mandibles flicked. "Nothing out of the usual, more shipments coming in and a few ships full of humans had arrived before we got back. Nothing's shipped out."

Shepard leaned back in his chair and fiddled with a laser pointing pen; he was quiet for several minutes before he nodded. "Start sending me the names of every ship that leaves there. I don't care if it's only a shuttle, I want the transponder ID, and a holo of the craft sent immediately."

Nihlus nodded his head slightly and turned back to Jane Shepard's camera feed as the one from John Shepard cut off. "Did you hear that, Shepard?"

"I heard, Nihlus. That memorial thing will be a perfect opportunity if this is a hate crime against aliens and not just another group that likes to blow shit up no matter who the victims are."

 

* * *

 

Sara adjusted her grip on the pistol and slowly squeezed the trigger. After she had emptied the weapon and removed the spent heat sink, she pushed the button to bring the target in closer. She jumped when a turian voice said next to her ear, "You know, if you need someone to show you how to use that weapon properly, I'd be happy to offer you private lessons."

Sara's lips twitched as she turned her head slightly and peered into Julian's eyes. "I'm flattered, sir, but my mate is a C-Sec officer, and I don't think he'd like another male giving me private lessons."

"A C-Sec officer, huh? I bet I could take him."

Sara shook her head and leaned in to kiss his mandible. "You look tired, Julian."

He gave a small human-like shrug and studied the grouping of shots on the target. "Either your targeting sight is slightly off, or you're pulling to the left when you're squeezing the trigger," he said as he pointed out the numerous shots on the left side of the bulls-eye while the right side only had two shots marking it.

"This is one of the loaner ones, not the one you've modded out. Etarn said that the one I've ordered will still take another two weeks or more to get here."

Julian seemed distracted as he sent the target back and cleared the damage recorded. He slipped a fresh heat sink in and emptied the pistol at the target before bringing it back to him. He studied the readout and showed her the results. "You're pulling to the left; we'll work on it."

She nodded and gathered up her gear as he cleaned up the area and followed her out.

When they reached the front, he saw Etarn setting up a new display holo on the counter, one quick glance and he handed Sara the heatsinks. "Here, while you handle these I'll check on how much a small safe for you would be." He bent down and nuzzled her head and pressed his mandible against her cheek. She looked at him with a slightly confused look as he gently nudged her toward the machine at the back of the room.

"Etarn, where did you get that display?"

Etarn looked up from the announcement that had started to play on the display about the upcoming First Contact War Peace Commemorative. "It arrived earlier today. It's about time the Council or one of our species did something to commemorate the end of that war. They have Krogan statues and plaques and small memorials of everything else that's happened since the asari found the Citadel. There's going to be a huge festival that is going to last all week before the presentation of the statue. I can't wait to go."

Julian's mandibles flicked, and he grabbed Etarn's upper arm causing the older turian to look at him and sound his confusion.

"Stay away from there, don't go," Julian hissed and looked toward where Sara still fed used heat sinks into the machine.

"What is wrong with you, Julian? You have a human mate; I would think you both would be there together."

Julian nervously flicked his mandibles and hesitated. His voice was growly and low when he murmured, "It's not safe. It's at the top of the list for the next prime target of those bombings. Stay away from it. They'll show footage of the ceremony on the news."

Etarn stared at him, "Sara and I already made plans to go when you had to be at work. I'm sure that place is going to be guarded by more than just C-Sec. They'll have security crawling all over the place. How could they possibly get to the site and rig it with explosives?"

"I don't know. I've got part of my squad on security detail there already to scan for any of the components. But they've got almost two weeks to smuggle the bomb and weapons onto the Citadel if it's not already here, and that place is going to be filled with temporary workers bringing stuff in and setting it up. Watching every single person every second is not something anyone can do."

"Sara is excited about this, Julian. Find them and stop them before they ruin it for her."

Etarn gave a slight tug on his arm, and Julian dropped it just as Sara turned toward them with a smile.

 

* * *

 

A slight buzz sounded, and Shepard reached over to tap on a holo button, "What is it, Dahlia?"

"You have an incoming message from the head of the Tech Division, shall I put it through?" A soft, feminine voice said over the comm link.

"Yes." He heard a soft click, and a small holo of Tali popped up.

"Tali, have you had any luck with the software?"

The purple dressed quarian gave a slight nod, "Yes, it isn't our software that's faulty, Shepard. I contacted Legion, and he ran the algorithm again and verified it. I got a bit annoyed, and Kal asked me what was wrong. I told him some things about the software not recognizing the faces and then that neither Legion nor I could find anything wrong. He said if it wasn't the software then it's at the hardware end of things. That got me thinking. I contacted Bailey and asked if they'd been having any camera issues lately. He said that for months the security cams all over the station have been acting up. The keepers show up but leave again immediately without doing anything. The trouble only clears itself up when Bailey calls in programmers to redo their software. Bailey doesn't know about the additional software we put into his system for The Consortium's use and protection. He uses the same software tech company every time. I hacked his records after I disconnected the call and it shows the same two techs each time. According to the logs, they wipe the software and install their versions. It modifies our software, and that's when we notice issues. Every time. There's something else you should know and Bailey too about the cameras that are covering the areas where those bombs went off. I compared the incident and repair logs, and the days of the bombings, they start to act up a week or so before the bomb goes off. The techs move in and redo the software, and then they don't get any hits on their facial recognition programs."

Shepard tapped his fingers on his desk for a moment as he thought about what Tali had told him. "Let me handle Bailey. Send me the name of the company along with the IDs of the two techs. Good work, Tali. If you've got the updated files ready just hold on to them until I contact you again."

After disconnecting the comm with Tali, Shepard placed a secure comm request with Liara T'Soni.

"Shepard, how nice to hear from you again. How is everything going on the Citadel? If you're contacting me to tell me I'll have another houseguest for a few weeks I'm going to have to pass. I'll be away checking on some business ventures and won't be back for a while."

Shepard smiled and told her everything was still the same with happenings on the Citadel. Liara's smile flickered slightly as Shepard held up something in his hand. Liara reached over and pushed the holo button that slid her door shut and locked it before lowering the coverings over her windows and activating the scrambler system that was in her office.

"Go ahead," she said as her face hardened into the one she wore when she took on the personification of the Shadow Broker.

The Shadow Broker was, without a doubt, the most informed of all the galaxy's information brokers. There was nothing that Liara didn't know, couldn't find out, or obtain if it concerned data about a person, place, or thing.

"I need information about a software company and two of its employees specifically. This is important, Liara as it concerns the bombings on the Citadel and might be connected to the guest you had several months ago. Her bastard of a husband to be more precise."

Liara tapped on the icon to accept the encrypted attachment that was just sent her way and transferred it to a small data chip that she slipped into a tiny pocket of her long sleeved dress. "I'll leave within the next two hours to go back to my ship. I'll contact you as soon as Feron or I dig up something. I'll send you the bill then."

He nodded in acknowledgment then disconnected the call. The next call he made was to Bailey.

Shepard was holding his laser pen between his nose and upper lip while waiting for Bailey to take his call. When his friend finally answered he dropped the pen and righted his chair. Bailey's lips turned into a thin line, and his eyes narrowed when Shepard told him of Tali's findings. Bailey gave a jerky nod and released the breath he had been holding when Shepard told him he contacted someone to dig into the company. If the camera's acted up again to call him and not the regular company, he would have Tali, and one of her techs come out to find out exactly what was happening before those techs could mess with the software.

Shepard yawned and glanced at the digital clock before shutting his system down and setting the security apps running. He turned out the light and locked his office door before telling his secretary goodnight and heading for the lift.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: This chapter touches on the subject of rape. It is not detailed nor graphic but it is there. There are also mentions of anxiety disorders.

* * *

 

 

Legion pushed the trolley holding a strange looking device down the hall and into a different room. Very carefully he slid the locket into the machine and tapped a few buttons on his omni tool interface. A whirring sound emanated from the machine, and one by one the tiny lights on top lit up. Once all of them were on the machine powered back down, and Legion removed the locket. He carefully pried out the hologram that was on the inside and once again put the locket into the machine with the open side facing down and started it up. He did the same for the hologram itself before putting the hologram back into the locket and closing it.

Legion turned the lights back on and stood there for a moment with his head flaps moving and a digital clicking and whirring sound coming from him as he looked at the symbols showing on the holo-screen before he wheeled the machine back down the hallway and into the lab.

 

* * *

 

A slight buzz sounded, and Shepard pushed the intercom button. "Yes, Dahlia?" he said.

"Your presence is requested in the tech lab, sir," she said. Shepard told her to relay his acknowledgment and that he'd be there as soon as he could. Then he locked his terminal down and set his messages to forward to his omni tool before he left.

 

* * *

 

Legion stood in the same small room that he used earlier with the machine and activated a holo screen with the results of the scan showing on it. Shepard looked from the geth unit to the screen and back again.

"What am I looking at exactly?" he asked.

"This is the result of the scan of the locket. The light source revealed these symbols drawn on the item. I have magnified them, so they are visible by an organics eyes. Without the magnification, the spaces and exact shapes are not clearly visible. They at first appeared as numbers on the object under the light, but once magnified they changed drastically. I ran samples through various databases and haven't found any more information on it."

Shepard frowned and looked back at the holo-screen. He activated his omni tool's comm program, "Garrus, Tali, Samara, and Kasumi report to Tech Lab, sub-level C, room 402. Immediately." He continued to stare at the strange symbols on the screen until the others appeared. He recapped everything that Legion told him then asked if any of them recognized it. They all told him no.

Samara took several steps forward and took longer before she answered, "I haven't seen these before. Might I suggest you invite Sara here to view these, she may know or have seen something like this before since it was in her possession, and presumably the person who added this to the locket was her husband."

Shepard grunted before he nodded and opened his omni tool again. "Terrik, I have a job for you. I'm sending you an address of a client. Go there and tell her who you are and bring her to headquarters." Shepard stopped talking when he heard Kasumi clear her throat, "What?"

"No offense, Terrik, but having a batarian show up on a human's doorstep and telling them to come with them may not be the best idea. You may want to send someone that she would know to go with him. It will give him the experience and put her at ease a bit."

Shepard rubbed the back of his head. "Terrik hold on a second," he said into the comm, and the batarian gave a heavy sigh and said alright. Shepard's eyebrow rose, and he looked at Garrus who grinned and shrugged.

Shepard scratched his cheek and nodded, "Yeah, I can see that. Tali and Legion are the only ones she met that are on the station, but they need to work on the upgrades to the camera software. We're getting short on time if the pattern holds."

"What about Thane? Of any of us, he and Etarn would be the ones she'd trust the most, and Etarn doesn't have the clearance to be down here."

"Has anyone even seen Thane lately?" Tali asked, and everyone just looked at each other.

Shepard sent a message to Thane, and the same automated reply came back. "I have a feeling Thane is busy," Shepard said.

He sent a general message to a few others asking if anyone had seen him and only one came back simply saying, 'Don't you ever watch the bloody CNN station?'

Shepard accessed the news station on his omni tool and shone the holo of it on the wall next to the symbols.

"This is Citadel News Network. We are interrupting our normal broadcast for this update on an earlier breaking news story. As we reported earlier, a body was found earlier today outside a clinic in the lower wards. As our regular viewers know, this clinic has been under investigation by C-Sec officials for various alleged crimes. Including allegedly treating gunshot wounds without filing the proper paperwork, allegedly giving strictly controlled prescription medications without filing paperwork or being licensed to provide the substances. Also allegedly performing body altering surgeries including removal of identifying marks, removal of embedded criminal identification chips, and providing false identification chips. The owner of the clinic, Dr. Saleon, refused comments. C-Sec officials had this to say, 'The crime is under investigation. When we're ready to release the information we'll tell you.'

As of thirty minutes ago, we received an update. C-Sec identified the body as clinic technician Thomas Martin. Martin recently transferred to the Citadel from Earth. Employment records show he recently quit his job. Our on-scene reporter, Emily Wong, had this to say.

'This is Emily Wong, reporting for CNN on the recent discovery of the body now identified as Thomas Martin. The Medical Examiner's report has been released. Reports show severe trauma indicative of prolonged torture with notes that bones were broken with extreme precision. Various cuts were made to areas of the body that would bring extreme pain, but not allow the body to bleed out quickly. Further notes show that a break to the nasal bone had shown signs of healing before his death as did various areas of bruising to the body. The official cause of death is spinal cord severance between the C-4 and C-5 section of the spinal column.'

We at CNN will be replaying this news again in one hour. C-Sec asked if anyone has information about the deceased or the crime to call their anonymous tip hotline. Thank you for watching, now back to our original broadcast."

Garrus snorted. "Well, there's your answer, Shepard."

Shepard sighed, "Hope the hell he got some intel before he broke the bastard's neck. I wonder why he dumped the body in front of the clinic instead of in one of the protein vats?"

Samara rocked on her heels and closed her eyes.

"Don't mix up what he did with what one of your codes say, Samara. How many people has he kept from being abused? How many did he just give a chance for a life? We know Martin already sold information on at least two of the women that are under our protection and was the one that attacked Sara."

Samara looked at Shepard for a moment, "It could be seen as an act of justice to defend those that had been attacked by this person, including Sara. I consider the code upheld. As far as leaving the body where he did, could this clinic be somehow involved in this? Thane may have garnered information about it before he brought justice to the man and left it there as a clue for you."

"Possibly. Why don't you go with Terrik to pick up Sara, and bring them down here to see what she's got to say about this? Tali, head back and continue work on the software. Garrus back to trailing subject 553-A, and while you're at it check the Hanar and Drell temple to see if Thane is there and meditating. Legion, continue trying to figure this out. Let me know when you're back, Samara, I have a few calls to make."

 

* * *

 

Sara grinned as she hung the last of her clothing inside Julian's closet and closed the door. She straightened the bed's coverlet before leaving the room and going to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. She just pushed the heat button when the door gave a chime. She frowned and walked over to it. She didn't know either of the people on the other side, but she did recognize the red and white uniforms.

"May I help you?" she asked and chuckled when the batarian muttered to the asari that there were more security systems on the front door than were on the Volus bank down the street.

"Sara Maloy? My name is Samara. We seek entrance to speak with you about a concern of our employer's."

She frowned, "Did Ashley say what she wanted?"

The asari gave a slight smile as the batarian said, "huh?"

"John did say what he wanted. Tali sends her greetings and hopes that another girl's night in would happen soon."

Sara entered the code into the system to deactivate everything. The two Consortium members walked in, and she reset everything. "Sorry for doing that, but I don't know either of you."

"It was expected. Tali suggested I give you something to let you know we are indeed with the Consortium," Samara said to her as Sara inched her way around them and back to the kitchen.

"Please have a seat, would you like some tea?"

Samara and Terrik sat at the small table, and both of them said they didn't want tea.

"Sara, Shepard sent us here to fetch you to headquarters. He needs you to look at something that may be crucial."

Sara put her cup down, "I don't know anything that's been going on. Julian's been acting weird and even more protective the past few days. Does it have anything to do with him?"

Samara turned one of her hand's palm up as she said, "I do not know, Sara. All I know is that we need to return the headquarters as soon as we can."

"Alright just give me a minute," Sara said as she turned to rinse her cup. A strange tone sounded, and she turned back around.

Terrik cleared his throat as he held a hand over his glowing omni tool. "Sorry," he muttered and stood up and hurried to the living room area.

"Clara? Is everything alright? I'm at work right now," he murmured, and the two women heard a female's voice.

"I'm not sure when I'll be home, just send me the list and I'll pick everything up from the store on the way home." He paused, and the woman said something that caused him to mutter lightly. "If you're sure you need those I'll grab a box, just don't get mad if I pick up the wrong tampon. I love you too. I'll be home just as soon as I can."

Sara went red and covered her mouth to keep her grin from showing. She put the mug away as Terrik came back into the kitchen.

"Sorry about that. My wife doesn't usually call during work, Samara. Don't tell Shepard... or Garrus, he'll never shut up about it."

Samara inclined her head regally as she stood and headed for the door. "Of course, Terrik. How is Clara doing? Is she adjusting to life here?"

"She still has nightmares, but the therapy that the Consortium is providing her helps tremendously. She still has agoraphobia, so that's why she asks me to do the shopping. Hopefully, Ms. Chambers will help her enough that we can begin to go outside, at least on the apartment balcony, and eventually other places. But we both know that it's going to take a while to get there."

Sara frowned and as they entered the red and white skycar asked, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened?"

Terrik stared out the window then blinked his lower set of eyes before turning his head to look at her. "We come from Omega. The Hegemony still view me as a traitor because I don't share their beliefs in taking slaves or owning them or that humans are to blame for us losing the Embassy and status on the Citadel. One day I was in one of the rougher sections of Omega making a delivery when I heard a woman screaming. It's not an unusual sound on Omega, but something about this particular scream tugged at me, and I ran to see what caused it." His four eyes blinked, and he turned around to look out the front of the skycar again.

"Several males were brutalizing a young human woman. Humans and turians mainly. She screamed again as one finished and another took his place. Everyone on Omega is armed. If you don't carry, you'd be dead quickly. They were too busy with the woman to even notice me. At least until the shot rang out and the one still fixing the codpiece of his armor fell with a hole in his head. By the time they saw me in the shadows it was too late, I already shot each one. Some died quickly; some bled out as I watched. The female was hysterical; screaming and crying and trying to crawl away. It took what felt like forever to calm her enough to show that I wasn't there to hurt her and that we had to get away before someone came to find out what happened to the men. I had to point out several times that the bastards wore the Blue Suns armor. There was an old clinic I knew about not too far away, the salarian who ran it left, and his assistant left shortly after to open a bigger one. I explained what I was doing, and where I was taking her. She, of course, panicked. I got her to calm down again, and when she seemed to figure out I wasn't going to hurt her she went with me. I handed her my gun, and she calmed even further. I took one hell of a chance, but she needed to feel like she had a measure of safety, even from me."

He squirmed in the seat. "When we got to the clinic I hacked the door and tried to help with her wounds. Between the bruises, cuts, and the tearing, she was in bad shape. I searched the cupboards, found a few supplies they left behind, and she started to clean up. And before you say that we should have reported it, who would we report it to? There are no police on Omega. I made sure to hide her and secured the clinic door then went back and scavenged the heat sinks.

We holed up in that clinic for a week while she got her strength back with only me going out to get food and supplies. She refused to go near the door, and when I would mention trying to leave the clinic, she'd go into a panic. I couldn't just leave her there alone. That's when the Blue Suns found us. I had one pistol and a small bag of heatsinks, two days max of food supplies. The end of that second day and I had two thermal clips left when gunfire sounded outside, and I thought we were done for. It grew quiet, and the door's security system showed an override with the original code. A human and turian walked in calling out they weren't there to hurt us, and they took care of the Blue Suns that were outside. I didn't believe them at first and told them to stay back and that I wasn't going to let anyone hurt the woman again. They told me they knew the code because they knew the old owner of the clinic, Mordin Solus. Aria had notified them to come and get us. They explained about the Consortium and slid a handful of heatsinks across the floor to us. Clara panicked then fainted when they kept saying we needed to leave the clinic. Their doctor waited outside and helped us get Clara on their shuttle and began medical treatment. I joined up with the Consortium after we got to the Citadel. They gave us an apartment after Clara refused to live in a separate one from me, and here I am. Clara is undergoing treatment for her anxiety disorders and is getting better every day. She no longer clings to me or panics when I have to leave her to go to work, and I think it helps to know that I'm helping other people that have been hurt. It's been over two years now."

 

* * *

 

Sara followed Samara down a long, sterile white hallway to a small room with a brass-colored plate beside the wall letting her know it was room 402.

Legion, Kasumi, and Shepard were in the room still examining the symbols when the door slid open, and the three of them entered. "Hello, Sara, it's good to see you again. I'm sure you remember Legion," Shepard said to them as he flicked his hand toward the geth unit."And this is an associate, Kasumi Goto."

"Hello, I was told you needed my help or if I might have any more information? I told you everything I knew." Sara gave a brief nod to Kasumi and received a small bow in return.

Shepard hummed and indicated the projection on the wall. "What we need is any information you can tell us about these symbols. Legion found them on your locket."

"My locket? I don't understand."

Shepard pulled out a chair and told Sara to sit then took a chair next to hers. From his suit pocket, he drew out the small metal box and opened it. "There are a few things you should know about this. You told me it was an heirloom, passed down through a few generations now. Is that correct?"

"Yes. According to the stories passed down with the locket the first woman who immigrated from our family to England bought it with funds she saved from her employment. In her will she stated it was to pass from mother to first born daughter, should circumstances prohibit that then to the first born granddaughter. It's been in our family for a long time now, since the early 1800's Earth years. Why?"

"I needed to double check to see if that story remained the same. An expert in fine jewelry, antiquities, and historical artifacts tells a slightly different story. She claims that this locket isn't more than four or five years old and no way could it be an antique."

"Well, she's wrong. That's been in our family forever. I remember playing with it as a child while it hung around my mother's neck. The holo inside has changed to reflect the changing family, but it's old. There are family photos with the women wearing it."

Shepard rubbed at the locket's case then glanced at Samara. "Would you be willing for Samara to verify the memory of seeing this locket as a child."

"I don't understand," Sara said as she looked between Samara and Shepard.

Samara explained that she could meld their minds and look for that particular memory, she wouldn't invade Sara's privacy and would only reveal knowledge to verify if the memory was there or not.

"Tell me why first."

Shepard leaned back in his chair, "Because we think that your ex-husband pawned your real locket and replaced it with this fake. We think the reason he won't leave you alone is that he wants this back, that it's a key or holds information about something." He sighed and closed the box lid. "We need to verify if you're telling the truth or if it's possible you made up the story of the locket so we'd protect you and it for some other reason."

Sara sat up straighter, and her lips pinched together. "You think I'm lying?"

He held up a hand, "Not about his abuse, that's pretty damn apparent."

"I can't believe this. Alright. Do it. You'll see I'm not lying and that's a family heirloom, and maybe you'll believe me when I say I don't know anything."

Samara knelt before Sara and stroked her hair once. "Relax and look into my eyes. This will not hurt." When Sara looked into her eyes, Samara blinked and they turned completely black. A moment later both of them blinked and Samara smiled at her.

"She is telling the truth, Shepard. She has memories of the locket as a child and albums of paper pictures and holos of different women wearing it."

He nodded and apologized then removed a paper from his pant's pocket. "Metallurgic analysis of this locket. It's made of non-precious metal alloys; cheap and mass produced. The locket that you described and knew would be sterling silver. When we dated the locket we thought it was real, then after the expert pointed out the inconsistencies we found out the machine wasn't testing the metal, it was testing a coating on the metal. That coating covered those symbols that were invisible to the naked eye and preserved them from being scratched or rubbed off. I suppose it was on there also in case you got curious and had it tested. It would cause the machine to react and give a false reading."

"My locket... is fake? But how? Where is the real one?"

"I don't know Sara. The holo inside the locket is original and not a copy. Can you tell us anything at all about those symbols? It has to have something to do with Harry, and you're the only one that might have a clue. The person that found them said they resembled numbers, but as Legion pointed out to me, they look quite different under magnification."

Sara stared at the small metal box then wiped at the moisture gathered in her eyes before clearing her throat and turning her attention to the wall. She studied it for several minutes.

"Legion can't find a match in any database. We thought maybe you might have seen them on a document, or letter, or something that belonged to Harry."

Sara frowned and stood up to move closer. Shepard gave a start when Sara started laughing all of a sudden. She laughed for a solid five minutes before she collapsed in a chair and rubbed her sides.

"This was all a joke wasn't it?" she asked and grinned when Legion's head flaps opened and closed and Shepard just stared at her with his mouth open. "That part about the locket was cruel though."

Samara tipped her head and said, "This wasn't an elaborate joke, Sara. Everything we have said here today is the truth."

Sara's grin began to slip as she looked between Samara and Shepard. "I... you don't know?"

"Know what?" Shepard asked as he looked back at the symbols and scrunched his eyes causing wrinkles to appear on his forehead.

"The reason you or Legion can't read it is that the images are not only mirrored but are upside down."

Shepard's face turned red as he looked at her, "Uh..."

Legion's flaps waved up and down and the light on his head dimmed then grew brighter. The images flipped around the right way, and Sara pointed at them. "There you go. And who ever said they were numbers was right for the most part. The first two images are a series of numbers."

Shepard scratched his head, "Sara, I still don't see it. It still looks like symbols to me."

Sara grinned, "It's Russian. Those are Russian cardinal numbers. That last image gives the name of a book, the edition number, and I think the year it was published. Thane references his collectible list in much the same way."

Kasumi took a few silent steps forward and looked at the corrected images, "Cipher. Shepard, this is a book cipher."


	16. Chapter 16

* * *

 

 

Legion scanned the databases he could access, and he came up with the only book that included the same edition number that matched the other data. A copy of a Russian Bible, not available in digital form.

Sara nodded, "Yes, that is the correct book. My family had a copy of it from my ancestor; they kept it in a glass box in the small study in their home. It was locked and only opened to add marriages, deaths, and births to the family tree section. That is an odd thing though, why use that particular edition when the new versions are digital. You would need to have access to the book, wouldn't you? Not only that but... there are almost one hundred different languages spoken in Russia today. Not including the Galactic Common. Why this particular book?"

Kasumi nodded, "Well, they would need access to it at any given time unless someone made a digital copy of their own. And the why, I would guess because he had easy access to it, and no one else would have even thought about book ciphers. They aren't all that common after all, well not in real life; books and old vids sure."

"The big question is how are we going to be able to figure this out quickly? Does Thane have a copy in his store?" Shepard asked as he leaned against the table.

Sara thought about it then frowned, "Not that I know of. He has so many books in the glassed section that only he knows what's in there."

Shepard kept looking at the projection then sighed. "Then we need to get our hands on the only other copy we know is out there."

Sara paled when he looked at her. She started to shake her head. "No, I can't ask for the family Bible. They wouldn't just hand something that old and precious to the family over to me or you."

"We need it, Sara or I wouldn't ask it. This is not something small. That Bible holds the information we need."

Sara chewed her lip and began to wring her hands. "I don't think they would give it to me even if I asked, Shepard. Haven't you ever wondered why I turned to your organization instead of my parents to come help get me away from Harry?"

Shepard crossed his arms and leaned his hip on the table. "I know that shortly after you married Harry, there was an issue with your Uncle's company. I am aware that there was an inquiry and you lost your part time job there. I also know that less than a month later the two of you moved from out of your parent's home and into that apartment. You weren't able to work, and you never left home. We couldn't locate the company your ex supposedly used to work for. I have my suspicions, but it wasn't relevant at the time other than to make certain you were who you claimed to be and in the situation you described. When everything checked out, we set up the extraction and monitored you until we received your call."

"We moved out because they accused Harry of stealing a prototype chip. We only made the low-end stuff as I told you before, but this chip and the entire processor board would have made even the least expensive household items, commercial grade coolers, and ovens more efficient and hold precise temperatures for much longer before needing to be re-calibrated.

Harry told me he didn’t do it. He said that they just wanted to blame him for a failed chip design. My Uncle had announced the chip to the major appliance makers, and they backed him. When the chip went missing, it hit the company hard.”

“Dad confronted Harry with his suspicions. Harry said he didn’t know what Dad was talking about, that he didn’t have anything to do with that chip. He was only responsible for design upgrades to a pre-existing one. After they had their yelling match and Dad stormed out, Harry said that he didn’t do it. He laid on the charm, and of course, I believed him. He suggested we leave and have nothing to do with my parents since they would blame their failure on their son-in-law. I balked at first, then when he started to guilt trip me and imply that I didn’t believe him either, I caved.”

“We lived on my savings for the first two months. Mom called and asked me to come home. I–I told her no since she let Dad fire Harry and try to force all the blame on him that I didn’t want anything more to do with them. All I needed was Harry. She didn’t call me back after that.”

Shepard quietly sighed and looked toward the holo on the wall. “I didn’t know about this prototype chip. Now that you see things a bit clearer, do you think he stole it?”

Sara hesitated. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I knew they were working on the design and that it was in a different lab than what Harry worked in. I’m not saying I didn’t have my doubts about him after he… But, the labs are set up with tight security. We may handle low-end stuff, but we had a good reputation because our chips were workhorses, not like the ones that only lasted a year or two before replacing.”

“So you think that chip would be worth a lot of money to someone? Say enough that a person wouldn’t have to work for a few years if it was sold to the competition?”

“Maybe a few million credits if he had the working chip, the original schematics, and was able to patent it before my Uncle could. But that’s not where the main source of credits come from. It’s the ongoing sales. Companies manufacture electronic products by the thousands or even millions by the day. Each one of those products needs a chip.”

Kasumi spoke up, “He may not have cared about ongoing sales. He may have only wanted the chip and its design specifications.”

“That could be, Kasumi. In any case, we need that Bible.” Shepard stared at Sara, and she slumped in her chair.

A few minutes later a notice came down from the front desk receptionist that a Julian Patrus was upstairs and demanding that they release Sara; rather loudly.

Shepard sighed and covered his eyes as he shook his head. “He just won’t give up.”

Sara chewed her lip. “Let me go get him. He’s been acting even more overly protective than normal the past few days.”

“Alright. Kasumi, go to the lobby with her. When you get back, I’ll set up a secure comm line with Earth.”

Sara sighed then nodded. She hurried from the room followed by Kasumi and headed toward the lift to go up.

Julian paced the area in front of the receptionist desk all the while glaring at the woman who sat behind it answering phones with a “Good Afternoon. You’ve reached The Consortium, how may I direct your call?”

“Julian, what are you doing here?” Sara said as she caught sight of him.

Julian turned and rushed toward her. “Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you did they?”

“Of course not, Julian. They aren’t like that. Shepard needed to talk to me about something and asked for my help.”

Julian’s mandibles flicked to the side then settled back against his jaw. “What would he need your help for? Let’s get out of here while we can.”

Sara chewed her lip, “Come with us, I don’t think we should talk here.”

She tugged on his hand, and he huffed out a sigh before following her. Once in the lift Kasumi swiped her omni tool over the panel.

When they entered the room, Shepard told the person on the other end of a comm call to wait a minute.

“Patrus. I heard you were causing a ruckus in my waiting room,” Shepard said with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirking grin on his face.

“You took Sara.”

Shepard snorted when Sara smacked Julian’s shoulder and hissed that he didn’t take her but came with them when they said they needed her help.

Shepard leaned against the table again, and Kasumi moved to the corner where she could watch the byplay between everyone and also see the holo-screen. “Are you ready, Sara? We need to get on this as fast as we can.”

Sara swallowed and gave a shaky nod. “I’m as ready as I can be.”

Julian stared between Shepard and Sara wondering what was going on.

Shepard stood straight and moved to a terminal on the table. He typed in a few commands. Several minutes later an older human woman answered the call.

“Mrs. Hawkins, my name is John Shepard, and I am the CEO and founder of The Consortium. Your daughter Sara is with me at the moment, and we need to speak to both you and your husband. This is not a prank call but one of great importance as it concerns your ex-son-in-law and his illegal activities.”

The woman started to deny any involvement when Sara stepped forward and said something to her in their native language. The woman’s eyes widened, and she gasped at whatever Sara said to her then nodded before she hurried from in front of the comm terminal.

“She’ll be right back with my father,” Sara said and returned to stand next to Julian who wrapped one long arm around her shoulder.

“What may I ask did you tell her?” Shepard asked as they waited.

“I told her that the no good bastard not only beat me so badly that I was hospitalized several times, but that they were right, to begin with, and I think he stole Uncle’s chip. I told her that I thought he was one of the ones behind all the murders here on the Citadel. That’s when she gasped and agreed to go get Dad.”

When the older couple returned Shepard outlined what had happened and what they believed to be Harry’s involvement in the crimes. When Shepard asked for the Bible, Sara’s mother started to shake her head no.

“Mom, Shepard wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. We think Harry somehow took the family Bible and either made a copy of it or used it to make up a code. We don’t know of any other copy of it, and they can’t waste time in trying to search for one and hope it’s intact and an exact copy.”

“No, absolutely not. Not even for you, Sarah,” her father said. “The family Bible is the most valuable family treasure we have next to the locket passed down through the women of our family.”

Sara looked at her father with sad eyes, “he stole the locket and either sold it or pawned it or something and replaced it with a fake. It’s another reason we need that Bible.”

Her mother covered her mouth with a shaking hand and began to cry.

“I’ve got people looking for the locket Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins. If it’s at all possible, we’ll find it and return it to you, but this is a dire situation. I’ll ask once more, please, for the security of the Citadel and the people who live here, including Sara and her new mate, please let us have the Bible. We will protect it.”

“New mate?” her mother said, and Sara leaned against Julian while smiling up at him. He ran his three finger hand over her hair gently and smiled back down at her. “Oh my,” her mother whispered.

Her father shook his head no, and Shepard sighed. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this,” Shepard said before typing something on his omni tool. A few seconds later a split screen appeared on the holo-screen.

“Nihlus?” Sara asked when the turian appeared.

Nihlus nodded at Shepard and Sara. “Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins, I am Spectre Nihlus Kryik, and by Spectre order you are to produce the article in question. This is not a request. If you fail to do so, then I shall immediately set course to Earth where I shall remove the Bible from your possession. Know that I have the right to do this. Know that there will be no recourse for you. I do not wish to do this, but that book is the only thing that can help us keep the Citadel safe, and as such, it is imperative that you co-operate.”

“Nihlus? You’re a Spectre?” Sara asked with a note of astonishment in her voice considering what the group got up to… What he got up to with a human.

“Yep, surprised you did I?” Nihlus said with a hint of laughter in his sub-harmonics.

“Now I recognize you. You’re not just a Spectre, but you’re the Nihlus Kryik, the most highly decorated Spectre of all time. And you’re working with the Consortium?” Julian said. His mandibles were lax against his jaw, and his sub-harmonics were vibrating with awe and more than a touch of embarrassment for not recognizing him, to begin with.

Nihlus gave a human-like shrug and brought his attention back to the couple on the screen. “I consider your daughter a friend, and my mate likes her as well. I don’t want to get on her bad side by having to come to Earth, break down your door, and remove a friend’s family heirloom from you. I guarantee that the Consortium will take excellent care of it, and it will be returned to you in pristine condition as soon as we no longer need it.”

“Please dad, that book can save hundreds of lives and put that bastard in prison.”

Her father looked at everyone on the holo-screen and sighed. “All right. But nothing better happen to my family’s Bible.”

“It will be kept safe. I’m sending you a holo of the person that will be picking it up. Do not give it to anyone else but this man. He’ll have a metal container that will protect the Bible from the damage of any kind. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins, this may help stop the next bombing and save countless lives and injuries.”

After Shepard disconnected the comm, he turned to Sara, “It will arrive in 13 standard Citadel hours. I’d like for you to be here and help with this. I think it would ease your parent’s minds to know that you were handling the book instead of one of us.”

Sara nodded, and Julian refrained from commenting on it. He was still stunned to find out that a Spectre worked for the group.

“Let’s go home, Julian.”


End file.
